46 



INJUEIOUS INSECTS 



yellow, bordered with, a brown line, and with three black 

 confluent spots at the palpi. 



The worms commence to appear, in the latitude of St. 

 Louis, about the middle of July, and they continue their 

 destructive work till the end of September. They bore 

 cylindrical holes into the fruit, and feed on its fleshy 

 parts. They are gross feeders, and produce a large 

 amount of soft excrement. I have found as many as f our 

 in a medium-sized cucumber, and a single worm will 

 often cause the fruit to rot. They develop very rapidly, 

 and come to their growth in from three to four weeks. 

 When about to transform, they forsake the fruit in 



Fig. 31. — PiCEXE WORM {PhaceV.ura nitidalis). — Larva. 



which they had burrowed, and drawing together portions 

 of some leaf that lies on or near the ground, spin a light 

 cocoon of white silk. Within this cocoon they soon be- 

 come slender brown chrysalids, with the head parts i^ro- 

 longed, and with a very long ventral sheath, which en- 

 closes the legs. If it is not too late in the season, the 

 moths issue in from eight to ten days afterwards. The 

 late individuals, however, j)ass the winter within their 

 cocoons, though, from the fact that some moths come 

 out as late as November, I infer that they may also win- 

 ter over in the moth state. 



The moth produced by this worm (of which figure 32 

 represents the male) is very strikingly marked. It is 

 of a yellowish-brown color, with an iris-purple reflection, 

 the front wings having an irregular, semi-transparent, 

 dull, golden-yellow spot, not reaching their front edge, 



