BULLETIN 



No. 90 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief. 

 May 19, 1914. 



THE ROSE APHIS. 1 



By H. M. Russell, 

 Entomological Assistant, Truck Crop and Stored Product Insect Investigations. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Because of its beauty, and its hardiness as an outdoor plant, the rose 

 has long been one of the most popular ornamental flowers in this 

 country. Yet in spite of the appreciation given it the blossoms and 

 young foliage are frequently permitted to suffer great damage from 

 the rose aphis ( MacrosipTium rosse L.), whereas a few minutes' atten- 

 tion on the part of the owner each week would remedy the injury 

 and greatly increase the beauty of the bloom and f oliage. This com- 

 mon rose pest was first described by Linnaeus 2 in 1735, and since 

 that time has often been mentioned in systematic works by both 

 European and American writers. However, the writer has seen no 

 account of it in American entomological publications in which the 

 life history, habits, or control have been treated with anything 

 approaching completeness. The writer, therefore, in 1910, while sta- 

 tioned at Los Angeles and under the direction of Dr. F. H. Chitten- 

 den, began a study of the life history and habits of the rose aphis 

 in its occurrence on the outdoor roses so largely grown in southern 

 California. At a later period the work was carried on to some extent 

 in Washington, D, C. While this study is still incomplete, enough 

 has been learned to give the rose lover a fair understanding of the 

 habits of this insect and of the means for controlling it. 



RECENT RECORDS. 



During the fall and winter of 1909 and the spring of 1910 the 

 writer found the rose aphis attacking roses and causing extensive 

 damage to the buds and blossoms throughout the city and in the 

 vicinity of Los Angeles. On October 21, 1909, when first observed, 



1 This bulletin is of interest to rose growers everywhere, 

 s Linnaeus, C, Systema Natur., ed. 12, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 734, 1767. 

 34854°— 14 



