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acks of certain insects whose larv? are supported at the expense of the plant. Among Cryptogamic parasites which have been obser

It is common and injurious to roses, as it frequently covers all the leaves. The most effectual mode of preventing its spreading i

y troublesome enemy to the Rose, and will sometimes put at defiance every application for its destruction.[Pg 141] The most effectual is smoking with sulphur, dusting with dry

esence by the appearance of irregular pale brownish spots upon the upper surfa

ut they are not sufficiently troublesome

e the Green-fly, will simply stop the growth and impair the health of the tree, by fastening upon the green and tender bark of the young shoots, and devouring the sap. It is highly desirable that amateur cultivators should devote more time to the study of Entomology, for upon an intimate acquaintance with the habits of these minute depredators depends, in a g

occinellas, or Lady-birds, and other insects destroy large numbers. The first eggs of the Green-fly are deposited in the autumn, at the base of the buds, and are hatched in the early part of the following spring. Generation after generation is then rapidly produced, numbering sometimes eight or ten before autumn. These are produced alive, and without the intervention of the male. Reaumur estimated that a single Aphis might produce six thousand millions in one summer. The first hatching can be prevented by washing the plant with soft soap and w

g their eggs, being followed by variously formed excrescences containing the larv?. The Bédéguars, formed by the puncture

ime turns to a gall-fly. Its head and thorax are black, and rough with numerous little pits; its hind-body is polished, and, with the legs, of a brownish-red color. It is a large insect

f the thorax, the lower part of the antenn? red, and the remainder black. It varies in being darker sometimes, and measures from one-eighth to three-sixt

merous gall-insects, which, in coming out, pierce them with small holes on all sides. The winged insects closely resemble the dark varieties of the preceding

the ground. The males are more active, fly from one rose-bush to another, and hover around their sluggish partners. The latter, when about to lay their eggs, turn a little on one side, unsheathe their saws, and thrust them obliquely into the skin of the leaf, depositing in each incision thus made, a single egg. The young begin to hatch in ten days or a fortnight after the eggs are laid. They may sometimes be found on the leaves as early as the first of June, but do not usually appear in considerable numbers until the twentieth of the same month. How long they are in coming to maturity, I have not particularly observed; but the period of their existence in the caterpillar state probably does not exceed three weeks. They somewhat resemble the young of the saw-fly in form, but are not quite so convex. They have a small, round, yellowish head, with a black dot on each side of it, and are provided with twenty-two short legs. The body is green above, paler at the sides, and yellowish beneath; and it is soft, and almost transparent like jelly. The skin of the back is transversely wrinkled, and covered with minute elevated points; and there are two small, triple-pointed warts on the edge of the first ring, immediately behind the head. These gelatinous and sluggi

attacks has become very desirable to all persons who set any value on this beautiful ornament of our gardens and shrubberies. Showering or syringing the bushes with a liquor, made by mixing with water the juice expressed from tobacco by tobacconists, has been recommended; but some caution is necessary in making this mixture of a proper strength, for if too strong, it is injurious to plants; and the experiment does not seem, as yet, to have been conducted with sufficient care to insure safety and success. Dusting lime over the plants when wet with dew has been tried, and found of some use; but this and all other remedies will probably yield in efficacy to Mr. Haggerston's mixture of whale-oil soap and water, in the proportion of tw

prevalence of this insect on the rose, and its annual appearance, coinciding with the blossoming of that flower, have gained 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, 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 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 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

reach of frost, and pass the winter in a torpid state. In the spring they approach toward the surface, and each one forms for itself a little cell, of an oval shape, by turning round a great many times, so as to compress the earth, and render the inside of the cavity hard and smooth. Within this cell the grub is transformed to a pupa, during the month of May, by casting off its skin, which is pushed downward in folds from the head to the tail. The pupa has somewhat the form of the perfected beetle, but it

g

ing them from the plants into tin vessels containing a little water. They should be collected daily during the period of their visitation, and should be committed to the flames, or killed by scalding water. The late John Lowell, Esq., states, that in 1823, he discovered on a solitary apple-tree the rose-bugs 'in vast numbers, such as could not be described, and would not be believed if they were described, or at least none but an ocular witness could conceive of their numbers. Destruction by hand was out of the question' in this case. He put sheets under the tree, and shook them down and burned them. Dr. Green, of Mansfield, whose investigations have thrown much light on the history of this insect, proposes protecting plants with millinet, and says that in this way only did he succeed in securing his grape-vines from

ther animals, which lie in wait to seize them. Dr. Green informs us that a species of dragon-fly, or devil's needle, devours them. He also says that an insect, which he calls the enemy of the cut-worm, probably the larva of a Carabus, or predaceous ground-beetle, preys on the grubs of the common dor-bug. In France, the golde

mmends pouring boiling water on the ground, under the bushes, at the first appearance of the insects, and before their wings are formed. They nearly all rise to the surface of the grou

ts may be found in various stages of growth on the leaves of the rose-bush through the greater part of summer, and even in winter upon housed plants. Their numerous cast skins may be seen adhering to the lower side of the leaves. They pair and lay their eggs about the middle of June, an

fering from each other in the number of their feet, the color of their head and body, and the lines and points with which they were marked. Their habits were all apparently the same. They lived between two or three folds which they had secured in shape by the films of their silk. Thus enveloped and protected, they eat the leaf until it is wholly or at least partly consumed. They then endeavor to establish themselves on another leaf, in which also they e

Y OF T

a name, And its peculiar charm proclaim. O'er smiling lawn, through shady grove, Our dreaming poets pe