INSECTS. 189 



black, and very long. This is one of the most common 

 and destructive insects known to infest the grape in this 

 country. In some parts of the Eastern States it makes its 

 appearance in such vast numbers that it is impossible to 

 stay its ravages. It does not seem to be at all fastidious 

 in regard to its food, as it feeds indiscriminately upon 

 nearly all kinds of plants. If it has a choice it is not a very 

 particular one, as I have found it feeding upon the flowers 

 of the cherry, grape, ox-eye, daisy, sumac, rose, and upon 

 all the different species and varieties of the spiraBa ; and 

 when the flowers of these are gone it will attack the leaves. 

 I had one season about a hundred cherry trees entirely 

 'stripped of their leaves by this voracious little pest. It 

 prefers, however, the flowers of plants to their leaves, and 

 it usually makes its appearance in the spring, about the 

 time the grape comes into bloom. It eats the flower with 

 avidity, and when it appears in large numbers they make 

 short work of the entire crop. 



There are a number of remedies recommended for the 

 Rose Chafer, but I know of none better or more effectual 

 than that of catching them by hand and killing them. 

 They can be caught very rapidly by taking a large cup or 

 basin, with a little water in it, and holding it under the in- 

 sect ; giving the cluster of flowers a slight jar, the bugs will 

 immediately let go their hold and fall into the dish. When 

 a quantity have been caught, throw them into the fire or 

 pour hot water upon them. I have followed this simple 

 plan for several years, and though I have not been able to 

 annihilate them, their numbers have not increased. 



If a whole neighborhood would band together, each de- 

 stroying all to be found upon his own place, there would 

 be a prospect of soon exterminating this most destructive 

 enemy of the grape. There is no other way of destroying 

 them than to attack the insect itself, because the female 

 deposits its eggs in the ground where they can not be 

 reached by any ordinary means. 



