310 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



HABITS OF FULLER'S ROSE BEETLE. 



BY PROF. C. V. RILEY. 



As the knowledge of the destructive beetle, 

 Aramigus Fulleri, was early made known 

 through the medium of the Gardener's 

 Monthly, we are anxious to keep a full record 

 of its history in our pages, and give therefore 

 the following from the Scientific American : 



"Within the last five or six years frequent com- 

 plaints have been made of the failure of tea 

 roses, the cultivation of which has become a 

 vei-y important and lucrative branch of flower 

 culture. This failure has recently been ascer- 

 tained to be due to the larva of a little gray 

 snout beetle, belonging to the family Otiorhyn- 

 chidae, and shown in its different stages in the 

 accompanying figure. 



"Mr. Peter Henderson, of Jersey City Heights, 

 X. J., has himself suffered very much from the 

 work of this insect, and I have had considerable 

 correspondence with him during the "Winter 

 upon the subject. The following quotation is 

 from one of my letters replying to his inquiries: 



" 'The first knowledge which I obtained of this 

 insect was through our mutual friend, Mr. A. S. 

 Fuller, who sent me specimens in 1875, the 

 species being then undescribed. In 1876 it was 

 described under the name of Aramigus Fulleri, 

 by Dr. G. H. Horn, in the proceedings of the 

 American Philosophical Society, vol. xv., page 

 94. Mr. Fuller had found it in greenhouses, 

 and somewhat injurious to camellias. It seems 

 to be quite widespread, occuriug from the 

 Atlantic at least as far West as Montana, and its 

 habit of injurously affecting roses and other 

 greenhouse plants must be looked upon as a 

 comparatively recent acquirement. Such in- 

 stances of newly formed habits are constantly 

 presenting themselves to me in my studies of 

 insects. The beetle seems to be purely Ameri- 

 can, and the genus Aramigus was, in fact, erect- 

 ed for it and another species (Aramigus tessella- 

 tus) of about the same size, but of a silvery 

 white color, with faint green hue, which I have 

 found in Kansas upon the well known ' resin 

 weed.' The beetle belongs to the same family 

 and is pretty closely allied to a well known 

 European beetle (Otiorhynchus sulcatus, Fabr.), 

 which is larger and darker in color, and is also 

 very injurious to greenhouse plants, as well as 

 to some grown out of doors. This species also 

 occurs in this country, as I have specimens that 

 were taken in Massachusetts. It is the habit of 

 all these beetles, so far as their habits ai-e 



known, to work in the roots of plants while in 

 the larva state, just as j'our Aramigus does. The 

 eggs are doubtless laid upon the roots by the 

 female beetle, which burrows into the ground 

 for this purpose. Upon inquiry I find that 

 what is evidently this same beetle has been 

 more or less injurious to roses in and about 

 Washington, and that Mr. A. Jardin was obliged 

 to give up the growth of tea roses here, a num- 

 ber of years ago, on account of its injuries.' 



"In Bennet's excellent essay on ' Rose Grow- 

 ing in Winter,' he fails to mention this insect 

 among the ' causes of failure.' Mr. Hender- 

 son does not hesitate, in a recent number of the 

 Gardener's Monthly, after a thorough inves- 

 tigation of the subject, and a correspondence 

 with some of the best rose growers in six differ- 

 ent States of the Union, to express his belief 

 that in a large majority of cases failure is due 

 to this insect alone. 



"The only remedy that has been employed 

 hitherto is to persistently catch and destroy the 

 perfect insects, and the experience of Mr. John 

 May, who has for five years been fighting it in 

 this way at Madson, N. J., is to the effect that 

 no substance will destroy the insect in its larva 

 state without at the same time injuring the plant. 



"A study of the habits of this insect, which I 

 have been able to make through the courtesy of 

 Mr. Henderson, who sent me abundant material, 

 enables me to add to his excellent account some 

 facts that are both interesting and of a practical 

 value. The most serious injury is done by the 

 larvae, which feed principally upon the more 

 tender rootlets, and thus attack the plant in its 

 most essential parts. This work being uader- 

 ground, is so insidious as to easily account for 

 the fact that it has been generally overlooked. 



"I have had a quite healthy rose bush totally 

 destroyed in three weeks' time by about three 

 dozen of the larvae, which were placed in the 

 pot containing it. The symptoms that are mani- 

 fest above ground when the grub is at work are 

 partial stagnation of growth, weak pale shoots, 

 and generally barren flower buds ; and when 

 these symptoms manifest themselves strongly a 

 number of the grubs will be found if the plant 

 be dug up and shaken. The parent beetles, like 

 most other snout beetles, live for a considerable 

 time, as I have kept them in confinement for 

 nearly three months. They are nocturnal in 

 habit, being quite active and feeding only after 

 dusk. They shun the light during the daytime, 

 and hide un^er the leaves or cling tightly to the 



