THE UOSE-BEETLE : ITS NATURAL HISTORY. 231 



grounds on either side were nearly exempt from it. At Adamsville, 

 wiierever the attack was concentrated, all the young apples were eaten 

 up, and by beating down the clusters of ravenous beetles surrounding 

 the fruit, into sheets, '^ bushels were collected and destroyed," 



Characteristics of its Appearance. 



Many of the invasions of this insect, throughout the United States, 

 have been quite local, and limited to two or three counties of a State. 

 In these instances, the distribution has not been general, but certain 

 towns have alone suffered severely, and in some cases, a single farm, 

 as above stated, has served as a nucleus for the attack. 



The sudden appearance of the beetle is an interesting fact in its 

 history. In this latitude it usually appears about the second week in 

 June. Mr. Lowell, in his account above cited, states that on the 1st 

 of June, at eight o'clock in the morning, he gathered a mess of pease, 

 and not a beetle was seen on the vines. Two hours later the vines were 

 literally overrun with beetles of both sexes, most of which were paired. 

 Three hours thereafter, thousands were observed on some rows of beans. 

 These were all killed, and returning to the pease, they were as full as 

 before. Young cherry-trees were attacked and stripped of their leaves 

 in twelve hours. After feeding for about a month, the beetles disap- 

 peared almost as suddenly as they came. 



Its Natural History. 

 The sexual instinct is very strongly developed in this species, for 

 whenever several of the beetles arc found in company, they occur 

 paired. They mate almost as soon as they emerge from the ground, and 

 the males die a few days thereafter. The female, according to P'itch, 

 when ready to deposit her eggs, enters the ground for the purpose, to 

 a depth of from one to four inches, where she places about thirty eggs. 

 The eggs hatch in about twenty days, and the young larva produced 

 from them feed on such tender roots as are accessible to them. They 

 attain maturity in the autumn. Late in autumn, they descend beyond 

 the reach of frosts, where they remain through the winter in a torpid 

 state, and in the spring burrow upward to near the surface, and mould 

 an oval cell by the pressure of their body, within which, in the month 

 of May, they transform to the pupal state. During the early part of 

 June, the thin pupa skin is rent, and the perfect insect digs its way out 

 of the ground. 



Remedies and Preventives. 



Hand-picking and jarring. — As with most of the beetles whose 

 egg and larva and pupa are concealed beneath the ground, very little, 

 if any thing, can be done to destroy this species in these stages, and it 

 is scarcely vulnerable except in its last and perfect stage. So far as we 



