64 



INJURIOUS INSECTS 



young borer may be discovered. This Squasli-yine Borer 

 is the larval state of an insect of the same genus as tlie 

 borer of the Peach Tree. The perfect insect (fig. 39,) 

 has an orange-colored body; its fore -wings are black, and 

 the hind ones transparent, and the hind pair of legs are 

 fringed with long orange and black hairs. The female 

 deposits her eggs upon the vine near the root, at any 



time from June to August. 

 The young larva at once pene- 

 trates to the interior of the 

 stem, and eats and grows, until 

 the connection between the up- 

 per part and the root being 

 destroyed, the vine dies. The 

 Fig. 39.-MOTH OF SQUASH- f ull-gTowu larva enters the 

 YiNE BORER. carth, forms a rude cocoon by 



gluing particles of earth together, and remains in the 

 pupa state until time to begin its work of mischief the 

 next season. 



Eemedies. — The difficulty with the Squash-vine Borer 

 consists in the fact that its presence is not made known 

 by the wilting of the vines until the mischief has been 

 done. Among other methods that have been suggested, 

 is the placing sheets of the sticky fly-paper ('^^Catch'em 

 Alive, Oh!") about the vines, to capture the parent in- 

 sect. If these are seen flitting around the vines, they 

 should be caught by means of a net. If the moths have 

 been seen around the vines, these should be closely ex- 

 amined for eggs and for the wounds made by the young 

 larvse in entering the stem; if found, while still young, 

 they may be carefully cut out, without material injury 

 to the vine. If the vine dies from the presence of bor- 

 ers, search should -be made for the larva, that it may be 

 destroyed, and prevent an increase. Among preventives 

 it has been suggested that, as the insect deposits her egg 

 upon the stem near the root of the vine, the covering 



