200 DISEASES OF THE ROSE. 



in the middle of each side, which suggested the name subspinosa or 

 somewhat spined ; the legs are slender, and of a pale-red color ; the 

 joints of the feet are tipped with black, and are very long, which 

 caused Latreille to call the genus Macrodactylus, that is long toe, or long 

 foot. The natural history of the rose-chafer, one of the greatest 

 scourges with which our gardens and nurseries have been afflicted, was 

 for a long time involved in mystery, but is at last fully cleared up. 

 The prevalence of this insect on the rose, and its annual appearance 

 coinciding with the blossoming of that flower, have gained for it the 

 popular name by which it is here known. For some time after they 

 were first noticed, rose-bugs appeared to be confined to their favorite, 

 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 de- 

 plorable 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 in- 

 sects in swarms, at their first coming, and their sudden disappear- 

 ance, 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 blossoming 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 laid by each female are about thirty in num- 

 ber, and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the surface 

 of the soil ; they are nearly globular, whitish, and about one-thirtieth 

 of an inch in diameter, and are hatched twenty days after they are 

 laid. The young larvae begin to feed on such tender roots as are 

 within their reach. Like other grubs of the Scarabasians, when not 

 eating, they lie upon- the side, with the body curved so that the head 

 and tail are nearly in contact ; they move with difficulty on a level sur- 

 face, and are continually falling over on one side or the other, ^hey 

 attain their full size in autumn, being then nearly three quarters of an 

 inch long, and about an eighth of an inch in diameter. They are of a 

 yellowish white color, with a tinge of blue towards the hinder extremity, 

 which is thick and obtuse or rounded ; a few short hairs are scattered on 

 the surface of the body ; there are six short legs, namely a pair to each 



