454 THE ROSE BUG. 



apple ; through this he thrusts its fragments. They 

 leave the apple either before or immediately after 

 it falls to the ground, so that it is then almost im- 

 possible to destroy it. 



Dr. Trimble, of New York, found that many birds, 

 such as the chickadee and the downy woodpecker, 

 devoured these insects ; and although the worms 

 are under the bark, where they have spun their 

 cocoons, yet the latter of these birds seems to have 

 a remarkable instinct for discovering their position, 

 striking throvigh the bark with its bill at the exact 

 spot, bringing them forth and consuming them. He 

 thought that the instinct of this worm, leading it to 

 seek shelter for the winter in the old bark and in any 

 old material, might be made a means of destroying 

 it. " A most eiFectual remedy," he says, is " tying a 

 hay rope two or three times around the trunk of the 

 tree, when they seek refuge under this rope and 

 can be destroyed, if it is taken off and burnt when 

 winter approaches. The expense and trouble of 

 such an operation is very trifling, and the experi- 

 ment is certainly worth trying. 



(4) The Rose Bug — Macrodactijlus subspinosus : 

 Fabr. These attack the fruit of the apple, grape, 

 plum, cherry, and peach. They devour not only the 

 fruit, but also the leaf and the blossom. They make 

 their appearance about the middle of June, when 

 they crowd in immense numbers upon the fruit or 

 blossom and entirely consume them. They sometimes 



