394 NATURAL HISTORY OF IIAAVAII. 



1887; the steel-blue ladybird,^" the ocherons ladybird.-" the eisht-niarked lady- 

 bird^- and the mealy-bug or "Brownie" ladybird.-^-' 



The Japanese Beetle. 



While the ladybirds belong' to a family in the order of beetles.^-* and are 

 among the most beneficial members of that great order, they are by no means 

 so typical in appearance as is the injurious Japanese beetle,^^ which is an ex- 

 ceedingly troublesome and aggressive pest in orchards, gardens and door- 

 yards. By reason of its ravenous appetite for the leaves of certain plants, espe- 

 cially roses, foliage plants, strawberries, grapes, cotton, tobacco, certain grasses 

 and a long list of other cultivated trees, slirubs and plants, it is one of Hawaii's 

 woist introduced pests. 



They are ordinary -looking, grayi.sh-brown beetles, a little over a half inch 

 in length, with a broad fiat head. They are night feeders, hiding by day under 

 the loose earth about the roots of plants and under boards and rubbish. ]\Iany 

 attempts have been made to rid the country of this pest since it first became 

 troublesome about 1890. Perhaps the most successful enemy has been a certain 

 fungus that has now been well distributed to all parts of the group. Like all 

 fungi, it is a plant of low order wliich grows in threads.^'"' After a certain 

 period of growth some of these threiids "fruit." jiroducing small sacks packed 

 full of minute granules known as spores. The spores are very light and small, 

 and are blown about or carried by l)irds and insects. Some fungi are inju- 

 rious, especially such species as grow on the mango and the cdtfee. Imt the 

 one in question is beneficial, since it grows in the body of the Japanese rose 

 beetle and, if conditions are favorable as to moisture and so ou. it will event- 

 ually kill the insect. Dead beetles show the whitish or greenish fungi about 

 the numerous joints of the body and legs. In a few days after death the spores 

 develop and the fungus turns greenish and the disease is then rendily commu- 

 nicated from the dead infected insects to healthy ones. 



The disease can be easily distributed by simply capturing a .supply of 

 beetles and placing them in a secure box partly filled with moist earth. The 

 box should be set in a cool, shady place and the insects fed on any of the 

 weeds or plants of which they ai'e fond. When they die and the greenish mold 

 appears, the dead beetles should be mixed together with dry earth and sand 

 and distributed about the gardi'u or under bushes attacked by the beetles. 



Fuller's Rose Beetle. 



Fuller's rose-beetle,^" or the "]\Iaui" or "'OJinda" Ix^etb-. introduced from 

 America, is an oval black snout-beetle about a half inch iu length that, by 

 reason of the extensive range of its food plants of native and introduced 

 species, makes it a serious pest. The only jiarasite so far a lcno',^■n is the 

 larva- of a certain click beetle introduced to feed ui)on it. Toads have doubt- 



" Orcus chalybetis. 

 ' Cryptol^emus man 

 'Aramigus fuUeri. 



