These insects, often known as rose bugs or rose beetles, are about half an inch long and light brown in color. They appear about the time the roses begin to bud and seem to feed almost entirely upon the buds and flowers, being present for three or four weeks. They are not restricted to the rose for food, but attack the buds and blossoms of various ornamental plants, besides the blackberry, grape and fruit trees.

The eggs are laid in the ground and the grubs feed on grass roots, and pupate there. There is, therefore, no successful method of attacking this insect, except during its adult condition. In this stage, however, it is very hardy and resistant to poisons. It can be destroyed by spraying with very strong arsenate of lead, but even then, it is usually several days before it succumbs, and during this time it continues feeding, while heavy spraying of the plants while in bud and flower is hardly practicable. The only successful treatment, therefore, is by hand-picking, or by jarring the insects off onto cloths, from which they can be gathered and destroyed by dropping them into kerosene. As the beetles are most active during the warm part of the day, this treatment should be used early in the morning or toward night, when they are less inclined to fly. Where it is possible to enclose the buds in paper bags, this will give protection from the beetles, but this is not always practicable.