Bulletin 151, Truck and Garden Insects


this damage, the pickle worm and the melon worm. They are
closely related, very similar in appearance, and usually not dis-
tinguished by the trucker. Either or both species may be found

















FIG. 91.-Injury by pickle worm to ripening cantaloupes. (From No. Car.
 Agr. Exp. Sta.)
on cucumbers, melons, squashes and gourds. They differ in
their habits and consequently in methods of control.
 The more common of the two is the pickle worm. This is
a whitish caterpillar with conspicuous black dots on each seg-
ment. In the early part of the season it bores into the buds,
blossoms, stems, and leaf-stalks, but as the fruits form, it con-
fines its attentions to them, always entering from the side near
the ground. In addition to the injury caused by the worm feed-
ing on the tissue of the cucumber, the entrance hole affords an
entry for various molds and other organisms of decay which
quickly spoil the cucumber.
 The eggs are laid on the parts of the plant used for food
by the caterpillars. After the fruits are formed most of the
eggs are laid on the under side of them, hatching in 3 or 4 days.
The larva feeds and grows for about 2 weeks, after which time
it turns a coppery color and the black dots become less con-
spicuous. It soon pupates in a dried leaf and in about another
week the moth comes forth. This moth (fig. 92) has wings
which are clear white in the middle with a broad black border
around the margins. It measures from 1 to 11/4 inches across
the outstretched wings. This insect is commonly seen about
lights, and it may fly in the daytime.