ROSE-CHAFER. 



ROT. 



vity hard and smooth. Within 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 perfect- 

 ed beetle; but it is of a yellowish-white colour, 

 and its short, stumptike wings, its antennae, and 

 its 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 eel I, and digs its way to the su rface of the 

 ground. Thus the various changes, from the egg 

 to the full developement 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 congre- 

 gated upon our vines, trees, and other vegeta- 

 ble productions, in the complete enjoyment of 

 their propensities, we must unite our efforts to 

 seize and crush the invaders. They must in- 

 deed 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. Experience has proved the uti- 

 lity of gathering them by hand, or of shaking 

 them or brushing them from the plants into tin 

 vessels containing a little water. They should 

 be collected daily during the period of their 

 visitation, and should be committed to the 

 flames, or killed by scalding water. The late 

 John Lowell, Esq.,' states that, in 1823, he dis- 

 covered on a solitary apple tree the rose-bugs 

 " in vast numbers, such as could not be de- 

 scribed, and would not be believed if they 

 were described, or, at least, none but an ocular 

 witness could conceive of their numbers. De- 

 struction by hand was out of the question" in 

 this case. He put sheets under the tree, and 

 shook them down and burned them. Dr. 

 Green, of Mansfield, whose investigations have 

 thrown much light on the history of this in- 

 sect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, 

 and says that in this way only did he succeed 

 in securing his grape-vines from depredation. 

 His remarks also show the utility of gathering 

 them. " Eighty-six of these spoilers," says he, 

 "were known to infest a single rose-bud, and 

 were crushed with one grasp of the hand." Sup- 

 pose, as was probably the case, that one-half 

 of them were females ; by this destruction 800 

 eggs, at least, were prevented from becoming 

 matured. During the time of their prevalence, 

 rose-bugs are sometimes found, in immense 

 numbers on the flowers of the common white- 

 weed, or ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthe- 

 DinHi}, a worthless plant, which has come to us 

 irom Europe, and has been suffered to over- 

 run our pastures and encroach on our mowing 

 lands. In certain cc^es it may become expe- 

 dient rapidly to mow down the infested white- 

 weed in dry pastures, and consume it, with the 

 sluggish rose-bugs, on the spot. 

 954 



Our insect-eating birds undoubtedly devoul 

 many of these insects, and deserve to be che- 

 rished and protected for their services. Rose- 

 bugs 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, in- 

 sects, and other animals, which lie in wait to 

 seize them. Dr. Green informs us that a spe- 

 cies of dragon-fly, or devil's needle, devours 

 them. He also says that an insect, which he 

 calls the enemy of the cut-worm, probably the 

 larva of a Carabus, or predaceous ground-bee- 

 tle, preys on the grubs of the common dor-bug. 

 In France the golden ground-beetle (Carabus 

 auratus) devours the female dor or chafer at 

 the moment when she is about to deposit her 

 eggs. I have taken one specimen of this fine 

 ground-beetle in Massachusetts, and we have 

 several other kinds, equally predaceous, which 

 probably contribute to check the increase of 

 our native Melolonthians. {Harris.} 



ROSE-LICE. See APHIS. 



ROSEMARY (Rosmarinus officinalis ; from 

 ros, dew, and marinus, of the sea, on account 

 of its maritime habitat. Poetically implying 

 "the dew of the ocean"). There are 3 varie- 

 ties the green, golden-striped, and silver- 

 striped. The first is the one in general culti- 

 vation. 



ROSE-SLUG. See SLUG. 



ROSIN. See RESIN. 



ROT. In farriery, a disease in sheep and 

 other animals, in which both the liver and 

 lungs are affected, and there is commonly a 

 dropsical tendency. Its ravages are chiefly, 

 however, confined to sheep, and it is most com- 

 monly closely connected with excess of moist 

 food, or placing these animals in low, wet situa- 

 tions, every way foreign to their natural habits ; 

 for sheep, in a state of freedom, seek the most 

 elevated, dry, and heathy situations an in- 

 stinct which long imprisonment and domesti- 

 cation has not yet eradicated: every farmer is 

 aware with what tenacity his sheep adhere to 

 the very highest portions of a field. It is only 

 when we force them to inhabit low grounds, 

 and situations foreign to their habits, that they 

 thus become diseased. In a state of nature, too, 

 they browse upon the heath plants, and seek 

 with avidity at certain periods salt springs and 

 salt exudations, facts which have not entirely 

 escaped the notice of modern flockmasters. 

 Thus the argali or wild sheep of Siberia, which 

 are the presumed origin of all our domestic 

 sheep, are found about the size of the fallow 

 deer, on the immense chain of mountains 

 reaching through the middle of Asia to the 

 Eastern Ocean. They are found in small 

 flocks, ranging over the highest elevations. As 

 the winter approaches, they move downwards 

 into the plains, and exchange their food from 

 the mountain plants to grass and other vegeta- 

 bles. They are so partial to salt, that they 

 scrape away the earth in considerable quanti- 

 ties in the neighbourhood of saline places in 

 order to procure it. All animals in fact seek 

 salt with the greatest avidity. In Flanders, 

 sheep owners deem its use an effectual prevention 

 of the rot, and there is very considerable reason 

 to believe that by the use of this valuable con- 



