116 INSECTS AFFECTING THE GRAPE. 



opportunities for it to multiply. It feeds in the 

 beetle state upon a very great variety of trees and 

 plants, often being exceedingly injurious to the flow- 

 ers or foliage of apples, pears, plums, peaches, roses, 

 raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and other plants. 



The adult Rose Chafer, 

 Rose Beetle or Rose Bug, 

 is a hard, brown insect, not 

 quite half an inch long, 

 of the form represented 

 at Fig. 53. c. It makes its 

 appearance early in sum- 

 mer, about the time grapes Fig. 53. Rose Chafer: a, larva:. 6, 

 . , , , pupa; c, beetle. Slightly magnified. 



come into blossom, and 



feeds upon the flowers, foliage or fruit of the plants 

 already mentioned. After pairing, the females de- 

 posit thirty or more eggs an inch or so beneath the 

 soil surface, preferring for this purpose, according to 

 Dr. Riley's observations, ' low, open meadow land or 

 cultivated fields, particularly where the soil is light 

 and sandy.' In two or three weeks the eggs hatch 

 into grubs that feed upon the roots of grass, and 

 possibly other plants, and become fully grown (a) in 

 autumn. As winter approaches they go deeper into 

 the soil, coming to the surface again in spring, and 

 making for themselves rude, earthen cells in which 

 they change to the pupa state (6). Three or four 

 weeks later they again change, and the perfect beetle 

 comes forth. Thus there is but one brood a year. 

 The insect lives in the beetle state about a month. 



