62 



FULLER'S ROSE-BEETLE.— (^ra,77ii^zt8 FulUri, Horn). 



BY JAMES FLETCHER, OTTAWA. 



From time to time complaints come to us of injuries done to greenhouse 

 plants by some insect which gives abundant evidence of its presence, by the 

 nibbled state of the leaves ; but which is seldom detected. When such com- 

 plaints are received, it is suggested that a light be taken into the greenhouse and 

 search made at night. In most instances the culprit is found to be a small brown 

 snout-beetle, shown at Fig. 28. This is known as Fuller's Rose-Beetle. There is 

 no doubt that this insect is far commoner than is generally supposed. Its habit 

 of feeding at night and hiding during the day time, added to the protection 

 afforded it by its colour, saves it from detection until it attracts notice by its ex- 

 cessive numbers. 



This is a comparatively new enem}^ having onh' been described in 1876, 

 when Dr. Horn named it after Mr. A. S. Fuller, who first brought it to his 

 notice. It had however, been sent to Dr. J. A. Lintner, State Entomologist of 

 New York, two years previous to that date. 



A good deal has been written in different journals and reports upon the best 

 way tosovercome this pest ; but it still keeps turning up in new localities every 

 year, and is now reported as a greenhouse pest from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 coast. 



Accounts of its life-history and habits are given in the Annual Report of the 

 United States Entomologist for 1878, and Dr. Lintner's report for 1885. From 

 these accounts we find that this Insect injures greenhouse j)lants of manj^ kinds; 

 but its favourite food is undoubtedly the rose, and after this perhaps various 

 kinds of lilies. The injury done hy the mature beetle is how- 

 ever slight, compared with that of the larva (Fig. 26), which 

 is a thick white legless grub, when full grown J of an inch 

 in length, the body curved, wrinkled above and flattened be- 

 low, covered with short tawny bristles. Head yellow with 

 dark, black-tipped, sharp mandibles, with which it consumes 

 Fig. 26. the young rootlets of various greenhouse plants, and by the 

 destruction of these fibres with which the plant takes its 

 food, soon destroys the vitality of the plant. Prof. Riley says :— (Ann. 

 Rep., 1878, p. 256). "The most serious injury is done by the larvae, which feed 

 principally upon the more tender rootlets and thus attack the plant in its most 

 essential parts. I have had a quite healthy rosebush totally destroyed in three 

 weeks' time, by about three dozen of the larvae, wdiich were placed in the pot con- 

 taining it." Wli en plants are attacked at the root by larvaB they have generally 

 a characteristic appearance. The new wood is weak and spindly, the colour is 

 unhealthy and very few flowers are produced. When this is the case they seldom 

 recover. I have seen plants of which every one of the young rootlets were 

 destro3^ed, and which threw out new roots close to the surface ; but these never 

 did much good, and florists tell me that it pays better to throw away such plants 

 and replace them with young, vigorous bushes. There is frequently much care- 

 lessness amongst florists in not appreciating the serious nature of an introduction 

 of this pest into their premises, and it is not at all uncommon to see plants 

 destroyed by the larvae, simply pulled out and other health}^ plants set in the 

 same soil. This of course is a great mistake, and is a practice which should never 

 be followed. When roses are grown under glass in the usual way, viz.: — in beds, 

 if the soil is found to be infested by the larvae of this insect, it must all be 



