DIV.INSECTS 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
FARMERS 
BULLETIN 
Wasurnaton, D.C. T2l1 Aprit 28, 1916 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief. 
THE ROSE-CHAFER:' A DESTRUCTIVE GARDEN AND 
VINEYARD PEST. 
By F. H. Currrenven, In Charge of Truck-Crop and Stored-Product Insect 
Investigations, and A. L. QUAINTANCE, In Charge of Deciduous Fruit Insect 
Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page. 
Mntroductonyee kee cae eee neces oa 1 | Methods of control—Continued. 
DIsimibUblone- Yah os- caer este Sey eesiats 1 Use of arsenicals on grapes and other fruits 7 
Food plants and injury-.--. 2 andipickine ssa... = eee = Seek 7 
Natural history and habits . 55 4 Netting and! bagging 52.22. .2..... aes. a 
Methods of control... ..2....--...-- ae 5 Wserotiure; plants eee — seas sees se 8 
Practically useless applications........-- 6 Destroying the larve and pup®...-.-.---. 8 
Use of arsenicals on roses.....--..-..---- 6: |) Generaliconsiderations. .....- 2-2. -22--5--+-- 8 
INTRODUCTORY. 
About the time of the blossoming of grapes, roses, and many 
garden flowers a long-legged beetle of a light ocher or yel- 
lowish-brown, color, called the rose-chafer or “ rose-bug,” makes its 
appearance in certain sections of the country and strips bushes and 
vines of blossoms and foliage. This beetle 1s about one-third of an 
inch in length and may be recognized by comparison with the accom- 
panying illustration (fig. 1, a). 
These insects appear suddenly and in vast swarms in certain years, 
usually toward the middle of June in the Northern States and about 
two weeks earlier in their southern range, and overrun the garden, 
vineyard, orchard, and nursery. In about a month or six weeks from 
the time of their first arrival, generally after they have done a vast 
amount of damage, the beetles disappear as suddenly as they came. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
The rose-chafer occurs in the North,. from Canada and Maine 
southward to Virginia and Tennessee, and westward to Oklahoma 
and Colorado. It is particularly injurious in Massachusetts, Rhode 
’ 1Macrodactylus subspinosus Fab. ; order Coleoptera, family Scarabaeidae. 
28072°—Bull. 721—16 
