THE ROSE-BUG 265 



If its habit of work on the black -cap, which prevents the forma- 

 tion of galls, is general, this may form a barrier to its destruction 

 because more difficult to detect. It has usually proved more 

 destructive in the southern than in the northern states. 



THE ROSE CHAFER (Fig. 38) 



Macrodactylus subspinosus (Fabr.) Order Coleoptera: Family 

 Scarabseidae 



Harris, Ins. Inj. Veg. 35 (Flint Ed.). 



Saunders, Ins. Inj. Frts. 280. 



Riley, Ins. Life, 2: 295. 



Smith, Ins. Life, 3: 220. 



Horn, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 1876: 183. 



This insect is one of the most dreaded enemies of the horti- 

 culturist wherever it occurs. It seems to be created on a plan 

 which renders it proof alike against arsenites, pyrethrum, and all 

 known insecticides. It can be scalded to death, but this is not a 

 practical treatment on a large scale. 



Their favorite breeding places appear to be open fields of light, 

 sandy soil. In New Jersey, where they are particularly destruc- 

 tive, Professor Smith states that they breed in the whole of 

 the sand district of South Jersey, the larvae being abundant 

 everywhere in the brush lands, even down to the shore. In July 

 the female beetle lays about thirty whitish, nearly globular eggs 

 about one -thirtieth of an inch in diameter, which are placed one 

 or two inches beneath the surface of the ground. 

 The eggs hatch in about twenty days, and the young 

 larvse feed on the roots of grasses and other plants 

 until the approach of cold weather, when they work 

 their way deeper into the ground, passing the winter 

 in a torpid state. In spring they- approach the surface 

 and form an oval cell of earth in which to pupate, and 

 from which they emerge in great numbers, all at 

 once, a habit common to other beetles of the class F . 3g jj ose . 

 to which they belong. This occurs about the time bus. 



