THE ROSE-BEETLE : ITS FOOD-PLANTS. 229 



Harris also describes the larva, as follows : " They attain their full 

 size in the autumn, being then nearly three-quarters of an inch long, 

 and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a yellowish- 

 white color, with a tinge of blue toward their hind extremity, which 

 is thick, and obtuse or rounded ; a few short hairs are scattered on the 

 surface of the body ; there are six short legs, namely, a pair to each 

 of the first three rings behind the head, and the latter is covered witli 

 a horny shell of a pale rust color." In general appearance this larva 

 closely resembles the " white-grub " of the May-beetle, which is a 

 much larger form, being almost as thick at maturity as the little finger. 



Its Food-plants, 

 The name of '^^ rose-beetle " (perhaps quite as commonly known as 

 the " rose-bug") has been given it, from its appearing at about the 

 time of the flowering of roses, in June, and. from the fondness which 

 it displays for roses of all varieties,* with one exception, it is said, — 

 the cinnamon-rose {Rosa cinnamomea). When Professor Hentz wrote 

 to Dr. Harris {loc. cit.), " our * rose-bug' is not a rose-bug, for it is 

 never found on that flower as far as I know, which is common here [in 

 Alabama], both in a wild and cultivated state," it would seem that his 

 was a distinct species, or that it had developed diiSerent tastes in the 

 Southern States. The rose-beetle is also very fond of other members 

 of the family of Rosacem, as the apple, plum, and cherry. When 

 abundant, however, it becomes almost omniverous, feeding upon oak 

 and elm and other forest trees; upon wheat and grasses, and on vari- 

 ous garden vegetables, as pease, beans, potato, squash, etc. On a single 

 leaf of young corn, only six inches high, twenty-tive of the beetles 

 have been counted, and one hundred and five on one hill. Grape-vines 

 suffer severely from their ravages, as they attack at first the blossoms 

 and later the leaves, which they completely destroy, leaving only the 

 net-work ; they eat also the young grapes. The Concord vine has 

 been said to be preferred by them to the other varieties, and the sug- 

 gestion has been made that it might be advantageously cultivated as a 

 lure for them and their more ready destruction, f Entire peach crops 

 have been cut off by them. Young apples, however, seem to attract 

 them in preference to other fruits. They have been observed in ap- 

 ple orchards displaying so great eagerness to eat the fruit, that at 



*As showing its fondness for roses, the statement made by Mr. Lowell {loc. cit., p. 145) 

 may be quoted: " Eighty-six of these spoilers were known to infest a single rose-bud, 

 and were crushed with one grasp of the hand." 



tTheir preference for the Concord vine is not sustained by other observations. Professor 

 Cook, in noticing some deplorable ravages by the insect in some vineyards in Michigan, in 

 the years 1871 and 1672 {Id Ann. Rept. Mich. St. Pomolofj. Soc. for 1872), states that the 

 Clinton and the Delaware vines were entirely despoiled of their foliage and the crop rumed, 

 while the Concord and the Catawba escaped. 



