37 



these insects have ah-eady been explained.* Their 

 larvae continue in the soil three years, devour the roots 

 of the grasses, and destroy them sometimes to such an 

 extent, that the turf may be raised and rolled up like a 

 carpet.f In the evening these beetles may be shaken 

 from our young fruit-trees, and gathered in cloths 

 spread to receive them. A writer in the " New York 

 Evening Post " observes, that on the very first experi- 

 ment two pails -full of beetles were thus collected. 



Cherries, in common with most other stone-fruits, 

 are often found to contain grubs within them ; and it 

 has been confidently and repeatedly asserted, that 

 these were produced by the May-beetle, or Melolon- 

 tha just mendoned. This is one of the many errors 

 committed by persons unacquainted with Entomology ; 

 and its correction is of importance to nomenclature, 

 and, in its results, to horticulture. The real source of 

 this mischief is a kind of weevil, called by Herbst, its 

 first de^criber, Curculio nenuphar, and re-described by 

 Professor Peck, % by the name of Rhynchcenus Cerasi. 

 This insect is one fifth of an inch long, of a dark brown 

 color, clothed with minute reddish and white hairs, and 

 its wing-shells are covered with tubercles. It is fur- 

 nished with a curved rostrum or snout, with which it 

 inflicts its noxious punctures. Repeatedly has this 

 insect been raised from the larvae or grubs, that are so 

 well known to occasion the premature ripening and 

 fall of the plum, cherry, nectarine, apricot, and peach. 



* Page 12. 



f This actually happened on the farm of John Prince, Esq. at Rox- 

 bury. 

 X Mass. Agr. Repos. k, Journal. Vol. V. p'Jge 312, 



