INSECTS. 209 



of roses. Last season (1868), we had a whole army 

 of volunteer exterminators, in the thousands of English 

 Sparrows that have recently favored us with their pres- 

 ence, and which we feed and house with the greatest care 

 during winter. We observed immense flocks of them 

 actively engaged for days in picking up something in our 

 rose beds, and had imagined it to be seeds obtained from 

 the refuse hops, that we had used as a mulching. At tunes 

 we felt inclined to believe that they would pick the 

 tender leaves of the rose, to use by way of a salad, having 

 always believed them to be strictly " vegetarians," or seed 

 eaters. Finding, however, that we were less troubled with 

 the Rose Slug that season than usual, it occurred to me that 

 perhaps we were indebted to our noisy, feathered friends 

 for the immunity. To test the matter, a victim was nec- 

 essary ; accordingly a plethoric looking fellow was shot, 

 when, sure enough, his well-stuffed crop revealed seeds, 

 Rose Slugs, and Aphis, or Green Fly, in great abundance, 

 demonstrating beyond all question the great value of 

 these birds as insect destroyers. 



The Rose Bug (Macrodactylis subspinosus), or Rose 

 Chafer, as it is sometimes called, is so named from its at- 

 tacking the buds or blossoms of the rose, in preference to 

 anything else, although it is destructive to many other 

 plants, particularly to the Dahlia, the flower of which it 

 devours rapidly. All the ordinary remedies seem to fall 

 harmlessly on the Rose Bug, and if not destroyed by 

 hand its ravages cannot be stopped, unless our feather- 

 ed friends come to the rescue ; whether they will be 

 equally efficacious in destroying the Rose Bug, I am un- 

 able to say, although I am inclined to think they will. 

 We have never yet been much troubled with them here, 

 and so far have not had the opportunity of knowing 

 whether the Sparrows feed on them or not. 



The Ground or Blue Aphis, This is one of the most 

 subtle and most dangerous of all the pests with which wo 



