280 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE. 



soap-suds have also been recommended, and are deserving of 

 trial. On chilly mornings the beetles are comparatively slug- 

 gish and inactive, and may then be jarred from the vines on 

 sheets and collected and destroyed. These insects are much 

 more abundant in some seasons than in others. 



No. 151.— The Rose Beetle. 



Macrodactylus suhspiiiosus (Fabr.). 



^^his beetle, commonly known as the rose-bug, attacks the 



rose, and is also very injurious to the grape-vine, the apple, 



cherry, peach, plum, etc. Its body (see Fig. 289) is a little 



^ ^^ more than one-third of an inch Ions:, slender, and 

 Fig. 289. • i- i i , 



tapenng a little towards each extremity. Its color 



is dull yellowish when fresh, arising from its being 

 covered with a grayish-yellow down or bloom, and 

 its long, sprawling legs are of a dull pale-reddish 

 hue, with the joints of the feet tipped with black and 

 armed with very long claws. The down on the body of the 

 beetle is easily rubbed off, producing quite a change in its 

 appearance, the head, thorax, and the under side of its body 

 becoming of a shining black. 



Tliese beetles sometimes appear in swarms about the time 

 of the blossoming of the rose, which in the Northern United 

 States and Canada is usually during the second week in June; 

 tliey remain about a month, at the end of which period the 

 males become exhausted, drop to the ground, and perish^, 

 while the females burrow under the surface, deposit their 

 eggs, then reappear above ground, and shortly afterwards die 

 also. 



Each female lays about thirty eggs, which are buried in 

 the earth to the depth of from one to four inches ; the eggs 

 are about one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter, whitish, and 

 nearly globular. In about three weeks they hatch, and the 

 young larvae at once begin to feed on such tender roots as are 

 within their reach. They attain full growth in the autumn, 

 when they are about three-quarters of an inch long and about 



