. Annual report. 1st-12th, 1867-1878. Geology. PACKARD.] THE SQUASH-BUG. 771. Fig. 38.—Tachina parasite of the Squash-Beetle. Descrijyiion of Melanosphora d'uibroticm Shimer.—Pitch black. Eyes and proboscis light brown. Halters pale brownish. A crescentic line on each side of the face bordering the eye, almost meeting in the medial line, silvery-gray. Anterior portion and sides of the prothorax in some lights give the same lustrous gray reflections as the face ; in others, blackish. Body moderately clothed with stiff black spines. Wings hyaline, iridescent, with a smoky yellowish shade toward
. Annual report. 1st-12th, 1867-1878. Geology. PACKARD.] THE SQUASH-BUG. 771. Fig. 38.—Tachina parasite of the Squash-Beetle. Descrijyiion of Melanosphora d'uibroticm Shimer.—Pitch black. Eyes and proboscis light brown. Halters pale brownish. A crescentic line on each side of the face bordering the eye, almost meeting in the medial line, silvery-gray. Anterior portion and sides of the prothorax in some lights give the same lustrous gray reflections as the face ; in others, blackish. Body moderately clothed with stiff black spines. Wings hyaline, iridescent, with a smoky yellowish shade toward the base. Expanse of wings, of an inch ; width of wing, of an inch; length of body, of au inch ; described from five dry specimens.—(Shimer.) Dr. Shimer has also fouud a .small red mite attached to the posterior end of the body of the beetle, which is very annoying to its host. Remedies.—Covering the vines with cotton or a high frame covered with muslin or milli- net is the only sure preventive, while pow- dered charcoal, hellebore, or lime may be sprinkled on the leaves. Mr. Grer^ory, says the American Agriculturist, "relies upon plaster or oyster-shell lime, which may be shaken from a small sieve while the leaves are wet with dew or rain; to be applied as soon as the plants are up. He objects to the use of air-slacked stone-lime as it is apt to be too caustic and injures the ; The Squash-Bug, Coreus tristis De Geer (Fig. 39).—Sucking the sap of the stems; large black bugs, often surrounding in large numbers the stems of squash-vines iu August. While the squash-beetle is a coleopterous insect, the large black bug which is so abundant and destructive to the squash is a hemipterous insect, not having free-biting jaws as in the beetles, but a long, slender, sharp beak, lying, when at rest, on the breast, which it thrusts into the stem or leaf-stalks of its food-plant. I extract the following account of it from the " Guide to the
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