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The rose-chafer is rather widely distributed, occurring from Canada 

 south to Virginia and Tennessee and west to Colorado. It is recorded 

 also from Oklahoma and Texas, though west of the Mississippi it is 

 apparently not very injurious. In the New England and Central 

 States it is more abundant, and is most troublesome perhaps in New 

 York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and 

 Ohio, large outbreaks in ruinous numbers occurring more or less 

 locally where the soil is light and sandy. 



Fig. 9.— Rose-chafer {Macrodaclylus subspinosus): a, Adult or beetle; 6, larva; c, d, mouth parts of 

 same; e, pupa; /, injury to leaves and blossoms of grape, with beetles at work, o, b, e, Much 

 enlarged; c, d, more enlarged; /, somewhat reduced. (From Marlatt.) 



Breeding Grounds. 



The insect lives in the larval stage underground, feeding on the 

 roots of various plants, especially on the roots of grasses. Doctor 

 J. B. Smith found larvae in abundance in a vineyard in New Jersey 

 and in a blackberry patch, feeding apparently on the roots of grasses 

 and weeds which grew sparsely between the rows, and larvae were still 

 more numerous under the sod bordering the vineyard. In an adjacent 

 meadow, where the soil was heavier and less sandy, no larvae could be 

 found. In general, the insects breed principally in light sandy soils, 

 especially in meadow lands, but also in other places where there is 

 more or less of growth of grass and weeds, and, to a less extent, in 

 cultivated ground. Wet, clayey, or compact soils do not furnish 

 desired conditions for the insects, and from the fact that they are 

 largely confined to the lighter soils it becomes practicable to reduce 

 them greatly by planting these to annual crops which receive thorough 

 cultivation. 



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