THE INSECT WORLD. 



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offensive musky odor, which is quite lasting and noticeable even 

 after stained hands have been thoroughly washed. We find the 

 adult late in fall, and it remains in that condition during the winter, 

 under bark of trees, under rubbish, in barns and similar localities. 

 A large number are destroyed by one cause or another during this 

 period, but some survive, and in the spring lay upon the squash 

 or other cucurbit vines patches of unusually large, almost golden- 

 brown eggs. The little fellows that hatch from them are much 

 shorter and broader in proportion than the adults, maturing some 

 time during midsummer, and providing thus for a second genera- 

 tion. Only two broods occur in the Middle States, though they 

 overlap somewhat, making it appear as if breeding continued 

 during the entire summer and early fall. The punctures made by 

 this insect in feeding seem to have a peculiarly poisonous effect 

 upon the plants, young vines especially being apt to succumb to 

 even a few specimens. This is another of the cases where clean- 

 liness becomes advantageous, and constitutes also a method of 

 avoiding injury to a great extent. It has been found that the 

 second brood does not mature until quite late in fall, and, seem- 

 ingly, only those that become adult after the beginning of Sep- 

 tember have any tendency to go into winter quarters. It should 

 be the object of every grower afflicted by these insects to destroy 

 the cucurbit vines just as soon as he has all the crop he wants from 

 them. This can be done by plowing under thoroughly, or by 

 raking out and burning the vines. In either case the immature 

 bugs starve to death and never develop into adults. If this practice 

 is followed by all growers, in localities where raising cucurbits is 

 an industry, there is little danger of trouble from the insects. In 

 kitchen gardens, and on a small scale, injury may be prevented 

 by first picking off the bugs wherever they are noticed and, later, 

 picking off those parts of the leaves containing eggs. The eggs 

 are laid on the under side, and are so prominent that looking for 

 them is a matter of little difficulty, no cluster escaping a more 

 than casual glance. 



Now comes a series of broad, heavily-built bugs, in which the 

 scutellum is greatly elongated and covers a large part of the 

 abdomen. In this, the Pentatomidce^ the enlarged scutellum is 

 triangular, and has a lateral groove into which the edges of the 

 wing-covers fit when not in use. Here also we have some species 



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