36 COLEOPTEEA. 



rose, and its annual appearance coinciding with the blossom- 

 ing of that flower, have gained for it the popular name by 

 which it is here known. For some time af^er they were first 

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

 the blossoms of the rose ; but within forty 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 deplorable ravages. The grape-vine 

 in particular, the cherry, plum, and apple trees, have annu- 

 ally 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 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 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 number, 

 and are deposited from one to four inches beneath the sur- 

 face 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 Scarabseians, when not eating they lie upon 

 the side, with the body curved, so that the head and tail 



Vol. X. p. 8, reprinted in the New England Farmer, Vol. VI. p. 18, &c. : my Dis- 

 course before the Massachusetts Horticulttiral Society, p. 31, 8vo, Cambridge, 

 1832; Dr. Green's communication on this insect in the New England Farmer, 

 Vol. VI. pp. 41, 49, &o.; my Report on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, in Massa- 

 chusetts House Document, No. 72, April, 1838, p. 70 ; and a communication iu the 

 New England Fanner, Vol. IX. p. 1. 



