1908 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL. HORTICULTURE 



growing leaves. Hand picking is profit- 

 able all summer if tlie bugs persist, but 

 by thorougb work most of tbe first gen- 

 eration may be destroyed, tbus avoiding 

 further injury. 



Clean Culture 



Burning or composting remnants of 

 curcurbit plants, together with all rub- 

 bish about gardens and fields, both after 

 the crop is gathered and during late fall 

 or wmter, will aid materially toward 

 preventing the adult bugs hibernating 

 successfully. This practice is equally val- 

 uable for checking the increase of many 

 other injurious insects. 



The horned squash bug yields to the 

 same treatment. 



North Carohna Bulletin 205 



Squash Lady Beetle 



Wpitachna dorealu Fab 

 The above common name is applied to 

 a large species of lady beetle which may 

 occur in small numbers on squash, gourds 

 and other cucurbits. They are seldom 

 numerous, but are mentioned because 

 their feeding habits are so strikingly dif- 

 ferent from other lady beetles whose 

 food consists chiefly of scale insects, 

 plant lice, or other small insects. For 

 this reason lady beetles are generally 

 considered beneficial and should be en- 

 couraged to multiply. 



The squash lady beetles, and their 

 larvae also, are plant feeders, occasion- 

 ally numerous enough to partially de- 

 foliate the plants on which they occur. 

 Cucurbit growers should learn to recog- 

 nize them in order to avoid making the 

 mistake of attempting to destroy the 

 really beneficial lady beetles, which re- 

 semble this plant-feeding species in gen- 

 eral shape and appearance. 



Bescriptioii and Habits 



Beetles 



The beetles measure about one-third 

 inch in length, have a small head and 

 thorax and rather short legs. The whole 

 body is slightly oval with a strongly 

 arched back. The general cover is light 

 yellow. The thorax bears four small 



black spots, while the wing covers when 

 closed show 12 black spots of irregular 

 size, two of which are divided by the 

 inner margin of the wings, forming two 

 large median dorsal spots. The ventral 

 side of the body is yellow, marked with 

 black. The legs are yellow. 



The only other native lady beetle liable 

 to be mistaken for this species has only 

 nine black spots on the wing covers, 

 while the body beneath is black, includ- 

 ing the legs. It is also of a smaller size. 



The Northern lady beetles hibernate 

 during winter, come forth in spring and 

 feed on the foliage of cucurbits, and at 

 times on the rind of melons and squash. 



Eggs 



The eggs are yellow in color, elliptical 

 in shape and are laid in clusters on the 

 underside of the leaves. 



Larvae and Pupae 



The larvae are a little longer than the 

 parent beetles, yellow in color, with each 

 segment of the body bearing six promi- 

 nent branched spines, of which the basal 

 half is yellow and terminal half black. 

 They always feed on the underside of the 

 leaves. When grown they transform to 

 the pupal stage, attached to a leaf, and 

 after a week or 10 days change to adult 

 beetles. 



Remedial Treatment 



Both larvae and beetles are slow and 

 stupid in action, so that removing them 

 by hand is readily accomplished, and 

 generally nothing further is needed than 

 an occasional hand picking. Poison 

 sprays, applied while the plants are 

 small, will kill many of the beetles. 



Squash Vine Borer 



MehtUa satyHniformis Hbn. 

 As its name implies, this insect lives 

 during the destructive period of its life 

 as a borer in the main stem or leaf stalk, 

 but prefers to feed in the woody tissue 

 near the root. The damage is caused by 

 the larvae, which are white, fleshy, grub- 

 like worms, changing eventually to moths 

 somewhat resembling wasps. 



