February, ’23] 
worthley: squash bug in Massachusetts 
73 
Table 2. Control of Root Maggot in Cabbage Seed-Bed During 1922 
(Mercuric chloride used at rate of 1 ounce to 10 gallons water) 
Plat 
Number of 
Row applications 
per row 
Date of 
final 
application 
Number of 
plants 
counted 
Number 
infested 
Number Percentage 
clean clean 
plants 
1 
1 
5-12 
208 
18 
190 
91.34 
2 
2 
5-19 
218 
0 
218 
100.00 
3 
3 
5-26 
189 
0 
189 
100.00 
1 
4 
4 
6-2 
198 
0 
198 
100.00 
5 
5 
6-9 
177 
0 
177 
100.00 
6 
6 
6-16 
167 
0 
168 
100.00 
7 
1 
5-19 
178 
16 
162 
91.57 
2 
8 
2 
5-26 
178 
8 
170 
95.50 
9 
3 
6-2 
133 
0 
133 
100.00 
10 
4 
6-9 
152 
0 
152 
100.00 
11 
5 
6-16 
146 
0 
146 
100.00 
12 
1 
5-26 
153 
50 
103 
67.32 
13 
2 
6-2 
130 
45 
85 
65.38 
3 
14 
3 
6-9 
156 
40 
116 
74.35 
15 
4 
6-16 
209 
70 
139 
66.55 
16 
1 
6-2 
215 
85 
130 
61.35 
4 
17 
2 
6-9 
247 
90 
157 
63.56 
18 
3 
6-16 
234 
61 
173 
73.45 
19 
1 
6-9 
210 
55 
155 
73.80 
5 
20 
2 
6-16 
199 
56 
143 
71.85 
6 
21 
1 
6-16 
177 
65 
125 
65.78 
Check 
1110 
482 
628 
56.16 
Past President Dean: The next paper is on “The Squash Bug in 
Massachusetts,” by H. N. Worthley. 
THE SQUASH BUG IN MASSACHUSETTS 
By H. N. Worthley, Amherst , Mass. 
Abstract 
The life-cycle of the squash bug, Anasa tristis , in Massachusetts has been worked 
out and compared with the records for other parts of the country. An attempt to 
find an efficient insecticide for the destruction of adult bugs without injuring the 
vines was unsuccessful. Brief notes on a Tachinid parasite, Trichopoda pennipes 
are given. 
The squash bug (Anasa tristis De Geer) is an ever present pest of 
cucurbits in Massachusetts. It is locally abundant every year, but 
causes serious loss only occasionally. The worst damage in Massachus¬ 
etts appears to occur when overwintered adult bugs are abundant in 
the spring, sucking the juices of the seedling plants, which are killed 
outright. Weed and Conradi (5)\ p. 15, give an account of a serious 
outbreak in New Hampshire, in which “as soon as squashes, cucumbers, 
and other plants of the vine family were out of the ground in spring, the 
lumbers in parenthesis refer to “Literature cited.” 
