280 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE 



soap-suds have also been recommended, and are deseiving of 

 trial. On chilly mornings the beetles are comparatively slug- 

 gish and inactive, and may then be jarred from the vines on 

 sheets and collected and destroyed. These insects are much 

 more abundant in some seasons than in others. 



No. 151.— The Rose Beetle. 



Macrodactylus subspinosus (Fabr.). 



This beetle, commonly known as the rose-bug, attacLj, the 

 rose, and is also very injurious to the grape-vine, the apple, 

 cherry, peach, plum, etc. Its body (see Fig. 289) is a little 

 Fig 289 "^^^'^ ^'^^^^ one-third of an inch long, slender, and 

 tapering a little towards each extremity. Its color 

 is dull yellowish when fresh, arising from its being 

 covered with a grayish-yellow down or bloom, and 

 its long, sprawling legs are of a dull pale-reddish 

 hue, with the joints of the feet tipped with black and 

 armed with very long claws. The down on the body of the 

 beetle is easily rubbed off, producing quite a change in its 

 appearance, the head, thorax, and the under side of its body 

 becoming of a shining black. 



These beetles sometimes appear in swarms about the time 

 of the blossoming of the rose, which in the Northern United 

 States and Canada is usually during the second week in June; 

 they remain about a month, at the end of which period the 

 males become exhausted, drop to the ground, and perish, 

 while the females burrow under the surface, deposit their 

 eggs, then reappear above ground, and shortly afterwards die 

 also. 



Each female lays about thirty eggs, which are buried in 

 the earth to the depth of from one to four inches ; the egga 

 are about one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, whitish, and 

 nearly globular. In about three weeks they hatch, and the 

 young larvse at once begin to feed on such tender roots as are 

 within their reach. They attain full growth in the autumn, 

 when they are about three-quarters of an inch long and about 



