1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



311 



branches or in some fork near the base of the 

 plant, always in such position as not easily to be 

 observed. Upon disturbance they drop to the 

 ground, draw up their legs, and 'play 'possom,' 

 remaining motionless for some time, and look- 

 ing very much like a small lump of dry earth, 

 the color adding greatly to the resemblance. 



"This habit of simulating death upon disturb- 

 ance is common to many other insects of this 

 family. They feed upon the leaves, but do more 

 injury by severing them than by the amount of 

 foliage consumed. The eggs are laid in flatten- 

 ed batches, consisting of several contiguous 

 rows, and each batch containing from ten to 

 sixt3^ The individual egg is smooth, yellow, 

 ovoid, and about one mm. in length. The 



ARAMIGUS FULLERI. 

 a, larva; 6, pupa; c, beeile, side vew; d, same, dorsal view, the 

 ■outline between showing natural size; e, epgs, enlarged and 

 natural size; /, left maxilla of larva, with palpus; r/, underside 

 ot head ; h, upper side of same, enlarged (after Riley.) 



female shows a confirmed habit of secreting 

 her eggs, which are thrust between the loose 

 bark and the stem, especially at the base just 

 above the ground. In the twenty odd batches 

 which I have examined they have invariably 

 been thrust either between the loose bark and as 

 above described, or into any other crevice that 

 could be found ; as, for instance, that formed by 

 some paper around the edge of the bell glass in 

 which some of my experiments were made. 

 More rarely they are laid between the earth and 

 the main stem just at the surface of the ground. 

 The eggs are so firmly glued together and to the 

 place of deposit that they are not easily seen, 

 and are with extreme ditficulty detached. It is 

 for this reason that they have escaped the notice 

 of rose culturists. 



"These eggs require about a month to hatch, 

 and the new born larva, which is of a pale yel- 

 lowish color, with light brown mouth parts, is 

 quite active, and immediately burrows into the 



ground, and acquires, very soon after, a bluish 

 hue. Just how long this larva requires to attain 

 full growth, I have not been able to ascertain, 

 but, in all probability, it remains at least one 

 month, and probably several more, in the 

 ground, where the pupa state is finally assumed. 



"As the injury of this insect has been mostly 

 to roses under glass, there will l)e found no 

 great regularity in the periods of its transforma- 

 tion under such circumstances. In point of fact 

 it is found in all stages during the Winter and 

 early Spring months. Yet that, in a more gene- 

 ral way, there are cycles of development, is 

 proved by the fact that during a visit to Mr. Hen- 

 derson, which I made last May, neither beetles 

 nor eggs were to be found, though egg shells 

 under the loose bark at the base of the plants 

 were common. 



"While the destruction of the parent beetles, 

 when persistently followed up, is an excellent 

 preventive of the injuries of the larva, and 

 strongly to be recommended, yet when roses are 

 extensively grown, some beetles are sure to 

 escape detection. It is evident from the facts 

 here set forth in relation to the eggs, that we 

 have still another and more eftectual preventive 

 measure within our reach, namely, the destruc- 

 tion of the eggs before they hatch. For this 

 purpose I would recommend the tying of a few 

 thicknesses of tape or of narrow pieces of rag, 

 or even stiff paper, around the butt of the plant, 

 the bandages to be examined every three weeks 

 and detached and burned if eggs are found in 

 them. Where the number of plants is large, 

 this destruction of the eggs might be expedited 

 by the employment of traps, consisting of small 

 stakes, around which such layers of cloth or 

 paper are tied. These should be thrust into the 

 ground near the main stem of the plant, and can 

 be collected once every three weeks, thrown 

 into a tub of hot water, subsequently dried, and 

 used again without untying the bandages. Or, 

 again, the materials always at hand in a florist's 

 establishment may be employed, for I doubt not 

 but that a few folds of oil paper placed in a slit 

 made in an ordinary wooden label, and this stuck 

 into the ground at the base of each plant, would 

 form an excellent lure to the female in oviposit- 

 ing." 



ED IT O RIAL NOTES. 



A Census of Cambridge Botanical Gar- 

 j)Ej;r. — An enumeration has recently been made 



