Popular SHctumarD of &mmattfr $atur*. 583 



close ashen-yellow down ; the thorax is long 

 and narrow ; the legs are slender, and of a 

 pale red colour ; the joints of the feet are 

 tipped with black and are very long, which 

 caused Latreille to call the genus Macrodac- 

 tylus, that is, long toe or long foot. The 

 natural history of the Rose Chafer, according 

 to this very observant and intelligent writer, 

 shows it to be one of the greatest scourges 

 with which the gardens and nurseries in the 

 " States " are afHicted.und was for a long time 

 involved in mystery. " For some time after 

 they were first noticed, rose-bugs appeared 

 to be confined to their favourite, the blossoms 

 of the rose ; but within thirty 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 dis- 

 appearance, at the close of their career, are 

 remarkable facts in their history. They 

 come forth from the ground during the second 

 week in June, or about the time of the blos- 

 soming of the damask rose, and remain from 

 thirty to forty days. At the end of this 

 period the males become exhausted, fall to 

 the ground, and perish, while the females 

 enter the earth, lay their eggs, return to the 

 surface, and, after lingering a few days, die 

 also. The eggs are hatched about twenty 

 days after they are laid ; and the young 

 larvse begin to feed on such roots as are 

 within their reach. They attain their full 

 size in the autumn, being then nearly three 

 quarters of an inch long, and about an eighth 

 of an inch in diameter. They are of a yel- 

 lowish white colour, with a tinge of blue 

 towards the hinder extremity, which is thick 

 and obtuse or rounded. In October they 

 descend below the reach of frost, and pass 

 the winter in a torpid state. In the spring 

 they approach towards the surface, and each 

 one forms for itself a little cell of an oval 

 shape, by turning round a great many times, 

 so as to compress the earth and render the 

 inside of the cavity hard and smooth. With- 

 in this cell the grub is transformed to a pupa, 

 during the month of May, by casting off its 

 skin, which is pushed downwards in folds 

 from the head to the tail. The pupa has 

 somewhat the form of the perfected beetle ; 

 but it is of a yellowish white colour, and its 

 short stump-like wings, its antennae, and Us 

 legs are folded upon the breast, and its whole 

 body is enclosed in a thin film, that wraps 

 each part separately. During the month of 

 June, this filmy skin is rent, the included 

 beetle withdraws from it its body and its 

 limbs, bursts open its earthen cell, and digs 

 its way to the surface of the ground. Thus 

 the various changes, from the egg to the full 

 development of the perfected beetle, are 

 completed within the space of one year. 



Such being the metamorphoses and habits 

 of these insects, it is evident that we cannot 

 attack them in the egg, the grub, or the pupa 

 state ; the enemy, in these stages, is beyond 

 our reach, and is subject to the control only 

 of the natural but unknown means appointed 

 by the Author of Nature to keep the insect 

 tribes in check. When they have issued 

 from their subterranean retreats, and have 

 congregated upon our vines, trees, and other 

 vegetable productions, in the complete en- 

 joyment of their propensities, we must unite 

 our efforts to seize and crush the invaders. 

 They must indeed be crushed, scalded, or 

 burned, to deprive them of life, for they are 

 not affected by any of the applications 

 usually found destructive to other insects. 

 Our insect-eating birds undoubtedly devour 

 many of them, and deserve to be cherished 

 and protected for their services. They are 

 also eaten greedily by domesticated fowls ; 

 and when they become exhausted and fall 

 to the ground, or when they are about to 

 lay their eggs, they are destroyed by moles, 

 insects, and other animals, which lie in wait 

 to seize them." 



ROSTELLARIA. A genus of Molluscous 

 animals, inhabiting the seas of hot climates, 

 or rather the muddy sand on their coasts. 

 The body is subcylindrical, marbled with 

 rich brown on the outer side, and white on 

 the inner and front side : the trunk is sub- 

 cylindrical, and annulated with a central 

 broad line of deep bronze-black : the mar- 

 gins yellow with a narrow vermillion line 

 externally. The eyes are on long cylindri- 

 cal peduncles, of a deep blue with a black 

 pupil : the tentacula are subulate, elongate, 

 arising from the peduncle rather below the 

 eye. The foot is narrow, rather dilated in 

 front and small behind : the operculum is 

 ovate, triangular, annular, semi-transparent, 

 and horny. Like the Strombidce, it pro- 

 gresses by means of its powerful and elastic 

 foot, which it places under the shell in a 

 bent position, when suddenly by a muscular 

 effort it straightens that organ and rolls and 

 leaps over and over. The shell is oblong, 

 turreted, and acuminated ; the spire long, 

 consisting of numerous whorls. 



ROTELLA. A genus of Mollusca, in- 

 habiting a smooth, shining, orbicular shell, 

 with a conical spire, and horny operculum ; 

 left lip very thick, and spreading over the 

 under surface so as to form a callosity. The 

 animal has two very long and pointed ten- 

 tacula, with eyes at the base ; foot short. 



ROTIFERA. The name of a class of 

 highly organised Infusorial Crustaceans, 

 commonly called 'WHEEL-ANIMALCULES 

 (.Rotifer vulgaris), &c. These wonderfully 

 minute objects possessing life and motion 

 (some of them less than the 500th part of an 

 inch in length ! ) are of course wholly in- 

 visible to the naked eye, but their struc- 

 ture is beautifully revealed to us by the 

 powers of the microscope. Nearly all of them 

 are aquatic in their habits ; their bodies 

 are transparent, and consequently their 

 general structure is to be easily recognized. 

 They have usually an elongated form, imi- 



