INSECTS AND OTHER PARASITES. 201 



during the summer to shake off and kill the Rose Slug, 

 in order to keep the plants alive ; but since we have 

 had the Sparrows in such numbers, hardly one of these 

 pests is now seeu. An examination of the crop of a 

 Sparrow killed in July showed that it contained Eose 

 Slugs, Aphis, or green fly, and the seeds of chickweed 

 and other plants, proving beyond question the fact that 

 they are promiscuous feeders. The Rose Slug {Selanclria 

 roscB)f referred to above, is a light green, soft insect, 

 varying from one-sixteenth of an inch to nearly an inch 

 in length. There are apparently two species or varieties, 

 one of which eats only the cuticle of the lower side of 

 the leaf, the other eats it entire. The first is by far the 

 more destructive here. In a few days after the plants 

 are attacked they appear as if they had been burned. The 

 Rose Chaffer {Macrodactylus subspinosus) gets its name 

 from the preference it shows for the buds and blossoms 

 of the Rose, though it is equally destructive to the 

 Dahlia, Aster, Balsam, and many other flowers, and es- 

 pecially grape blossoms. 



An excellent application for the prevention of the rav- 

 ages of the Rose Chaffer or the Rose Slug, which attack 

 the hardy or June Roses, is whale-oil soap dissolved in 

 the proportion of one pound to eight gallons of water. 

 This, if steadily applied twice a week witn a syringe on 

 Rose plants, before the leaf has developed in spring, will 

 entirely prevent the attacks of the insects. Another 

 remedy is to mix an ounce of Paris green in one hundred 

 gallons of water, and syringe as advised with the whale- 

 oil soap. It will be observed that the quantity of Paris 

 green advised is very small to be mixed in such a quan- 

 tity of water ; but it is found to be ample. We find, 

 however, that if the Slug once gets fairly at work, either 

 remedy is powerless unless used so strong as to injure the 

 leaves. 



The Rose Bug, so called (Aramigus Fulleri), is the 



