436 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
CUCUMBER-BEETLE. ITS PUTA. 
short hairs are also given out upon the middle of each side of the segments. 
The last segment is nearly the, size of the preceding one, flattened and 
bluntly rounded at its end, polished and shining, usually black, lint some¬ 
times brown with the margin only black. On its underside this segment 
is white on its basal half, and bears a short large teat-like projection which 
is the anal proleg. Three pairs of short robust legs are placed anteriorly 
upon the under side of the three first rings. 
When this worm is crawling over a smooth surface, it moves curiously, 
the fore part of its body advancing slowly but continuously, whilst the hind 
part alternately halts and hitches forward suddenly, step by step. In other 
words, the'legs are constantly in motion, carrying the anterior end of the 
body along without any pause, whilst the hind end is held by the proleg at 
its extremity and only advances when it becomes stretched, when it gives 
a long stride forward and again halts, progressing about the twentieth part 
of an inch at each step. 
When it is done feeding the worm forsakes the root and forms a little 
cavity underground, by turning itself around and around in the same place 
and crowding the dirt outward until it becomes compacted on every side 
of it, funning a little lump of such firmness that it will not crumble or 
break asunder from any motion given to the earth around 
it by the hoe or the plow. Inside of this cell the worm 
throws off its larva skin and becomes a pupa. Under this 
form it appears as represented in the adjoining cut, the 
small figure on the left hand side showing its natural size. 
The Pupa is 0.28 long and scarcely a third as broad, soft 
and flesh-like, of a white color tinged with yellow, with the 
first segment of the thorax sulphur-yellow. It is thickest 
anteriorly, tapering, conical, and bluntly rounded at the 
tip, the head and thorax and also the hind end thinly 
bearded with minute erect bristles qf a tawny color, and 
Pupa of the Cucum- eac ^’ segment of the body having a transverse row of very 
bcr-bectio. minute hairs upon the middle of its back. The eyes are 
large, slightly protuberant, black and glossy. The antennae, legs, wing- 
covers and wings are enclosed in separate sheaths, which are free and not 
at all adherent to the body. The wing sheafhs are broader than those of 
the wing covers and project beyond them, and are of a smoky black color. 
Each suture of the back is marked by a blackish line, and the knees and 
feet are dusky. The tip of the body is furnished with a pair of small slen¬ 
der black sharp pointed spines. 
A squash root containing six of these cucumber worms I inclosed in ajar 
of earth, and upon examining it three weeks afterwards, some of the cells which 
the worms had formed in the earth were found to contain pupa) and in others 
the fully formed beetles were lying in a quiescent state. As the worms might 
have been occupied some days after they wore inclosed, in feeding and in 
forming their cells before they changed to pupae, I infer they remain in their 
pupa form about a fortnight. What length of time the larva is,occupied in 
feeding and getting its growth I have as yet no criteria from which to judge- 
