38 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



unknown in the northern and western parts of Massachusetts, in 

 New Hampshire, and in Maine. It may, therefore, be well to give 

 a brief description of it. This beetle measures seven-twentieths 

 of an inch in length. Its body is slender, tapers before and 

 behind, and is entirely covered with very short and close ashen- 

 yellow down; the thorax is long and narrow, angularly widened 

 in the middle of each side, which suggested the name subspinosa, 

 or somewhat spined ; the legs are slender, and of a pale-red color ; 

 the joints of the feet are tipped with black, and are very long ; 

 which caused Latreille to call the genus Macrodactylus : that is, 

 long toe, or long foot. 



" The natural history of the rose-chafer, one of the greatest 

 scourges with which our gardens and nurseries have been afflicted, 

 was for a long time involved in mystery, but is at last fully 

 cleared up. The prevalence of this insect on the rose, and its 

 annual appearance coinciding with the blossoming of that flower, 

 have gained for it the popular name by which it is here known. 

 For some time after they were first noticed, rose-bugs appeared to 

 be confined to their favorite, the blossoms of the rose ; but within 

 forty years they have prodigiously increased in number, have 

 attacked at random various kinds of plants in swarms, and have 

 become notorious for their extensive and deplorable ravages. 

 The grape-vine, in particular, the cherry, plum, and apple trees, 

 have annually suffered by their depredations: many other fruit- 

 trees and shrubs, garden vegetables and corn, and even the trees 

 of the forest and the grass of the fields, have been laid under 

 contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom leaves, 

 flowers, and fruits are alike consumed. The unexpected arrival 

 of these insects in swarms at their first coming, and their sudden 

 disappearance at the close of their career, are remarkable facts in 



