113 



Juue, 1888, about La Fayette, Ind., we frequently observed the larvae 

 varying in length from one-half to three fourths of an inch, depredating 

 on the plants, in the midst of quite extensive corn fields, from 50 to 

 100 yards from the margins. With a single exception, the fields 

 in which these worms were found had been cultivated for a num- 

 ber of years, and in all, the present crop was being continually worked 

 with plows, thereby precluding the possibility of the larvae having origi- 

 nated outside of these fields, and, except corn, there was nothing else 

 to tempt the parent moth to deposit her eggs. The smaller larvae were 

 frequently attacked by a species of Microplitis, which Dr. Eiley found 

 to be similar to, but specifically different from that mentioned in the 

 third report of United States Entomological Commission, p. 127. A 

 peculiarity of this parasite was that after leaving its host, it usually 

 constructed its cocoon under the body of the latter, after the manner of 

 Perilitus americanus, which similarly attacks Meg ilia maculata. In this 

 case, however, the body of the host was not so fastened as to form a pro- 

 tection, as in the case of Megilla. 

 August 12, 1890. 



AN EXPERIENCE WITH ROSE BUGS.* 



By Prof. J. B. Smith, New Brunswick, N.J. 



The rose-bug, or, more correctly, rose-chafer, was known as a difficult 

 subject to Harris and Fitch and the entomologists of their day. They 

 gave us a fair life-history of the inseot, to which Dr. Riley has quite re- 

 cently added a good description of the larva, with figures, as well as 

 some further biological notes. Each of these authors seems to have 

 been fully aware of the difficulty of dealing with the insect, and the 

 recommendations as to remedies are vague and unsatisfactory. Fitch 

 gives an excellent description of the way in which the invading swarms 

 cover everything, apples and other fruits becoming so covered that a 

 mere mass of yellow sprawling beetles indicates that here probably is a 

 fruit. 



Southern New Jersey has been invaded for several years past, which 

 cleared out the grape crops so completely year after year, that many 

 vineyards have been taken out and others will be abandoned unless 

 some practical remedy is found. With the view of testing the value of 

 the published methods I spent some days in the invaded districts. I 

 found that, as a rule, the insects did not breed in cultivated land, but 

 that, on the other hand, the entiresand region isa vastbreedingground, 

 pupae being found even at the very sea-shore. From these breeding 

 places the insects emerge and fly about, searching for food, the winds 

 apparently influencing their direction to some extent. Vineyards are 



Republished from Garden and Forest, July 10, 1890. 



