INSECTS. 83 



of water. Particular directions, drawn up by Mr. Haggerston himself, 

 for the preparation and use of this simple and cheap application, may 

 be found in the " Boston Courier," for the twenty-fifth of June, 1841, 

 and also in mos of our agricultural and horticultural journals of the 

 same time. The utility of this mixture has already been repeatedly 

 mentioned in my treatise, and it may be applied in other cases with 

 advantage. Mr. Haggerston finds that it effectually destroys many 

 kinds of insects ; and he particularly mentions plant lice of various 

 kinds, red spiders, canker worms, and a little jumping insect which 

 has lately been found quite as hurtful to rose bushes as the slugs or 

 young of the saw fly. The little insect alluded to has been mistaken 

 for a species of thrips, or vine fretter ; it is, however, a leaf hopper, or 

 species of Tettigonia, much smaller than the leaf hopper of the grape 

 vine, (Tettigonia vitis,) and, like the leaf hopper of the bean, entirely 

 cf a pale-green color. 



In treating of the common Rose Bug, or Rose Chafer, (Melolontha 

 subspinosa,} Dr. Harris says : 



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 coin- 

 ciding with the blossoming of that flower, have gained for it the pop- 

 ular 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 deplo- 

 rable 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 contri- 

 bution by these indiscriminate feeders, by which leaves, flowers, and 

 fruits are alike consumed. 



The unexpected arrival of these insects in swarms, at their first 

 coming, and their sudden disappearance, at the close of their career, 

 are remarkable facts in their history. They come forth from the 



