DISEASES A-ND INSECTS ATTACKING THE EOSE. 147 



ill the middle of each side, which suggested the name 

 suhspmosa^ or somewhat spined ; the legs are slender, 

 and of a f)ale red color ; the joints of the feet are tipped 

 Avith black, and are very long, w^hich caused Latreille to 

 call the genus Macrodactylus^ that is, long toe, or long 

 foot. The natural history of the rose-chafer, one of the 

 greatest scourges with which our gardens and nurseries 

 have been afflicted, was for a long time involved in mys- 

 tery, but is at last fully cleared up. The prevalence of 

 this insect on the rose, and its annual appearance, coincid- 

 ini>; with the blossomino^ of that flower, have stained for it 

 the popular name by which it is here known. For some 

 time after they were first noticed, rose-bugs appeared to 

 be confined to their favorite, the blossoms of the rose ; 

 but within thirty years, they have prodigiously increased 

 in number, haA-e attacked at random various kinds of 

 plants in swarms, and have become notorious for their ex- 

 tensive and deplorable ravages. The grape-vine in par- 

 ticular, the cherry, plum, and apple-trees, have annually 

 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 un- 

 der contribution by these indiscriminate feeders, by whom 

 leaves, flowers, and fruits are alike consumed. The unex- 

 pected 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 blossomino; 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 

 inclies beneath the surface of the soil ; they are nearly 



