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 mystery, but is at last fully cleared up. The 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 forty 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 remarkable facts in their history. They come forth from the ground during the second week in June, or about the time of the blossoming 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 inches beneath the surface of the soil: