OF WASHINGTON. 285 



from near Cleveland, Ohio, and on mentioning the fact to Prof. 

 E. W. Claypole, of Akron, was informed by him that he had 

 observed the species at Salem, Ohio,* some six years before, 

 fully 60 miles southeast of Cleveland, in a direct line, and not 

 over 25 miles from the Ohio river. I had been on the watch for 

 the insect in the extreme northeast corner of the State, but had 

 not been able to find it, though I had examined every patch of 

 asparagus that came in my way in that part of the State. 



I visited Cleveland on a market day and took specimens with 

 me, but could not find a gardener or truck farmer that had ever 

 seen them before,, and returned home more perplexed than ever 

 regarding the probable introduction of the pest. I next wrote 

 Mr. Ottomar Reinecke, of Buffalo, N. Y., who informed me 

 that it did not occur there, and the nearest point where it did 

 was at Rochester, 68 miles east. He stated, however, that Mr. 

 A. Bolter had found it about Chicago some years before. I then 

 wrote Mr. Bolter for information, from whom I received the reply 

 that he had found five examples near the city 25 years before, 

 and had seen specimens that had been collected by the late B. D. 

 Walsh in the vicinity of Rock Island, Illinois. Mr. Walsh died 

 in 1869, so that the collection must have been made at least 24 

 years previous. Mr. Bolter also stated that he had the year be 

 fore, 1892, found the species literally swarming on the Island of 

 Nantucket. My puzzle, instead of nearing a solution, was getting 

 more puzzling. I then addressed letters to commission men in 

 Cleveland, Sandusky, Detroit, and Chicago to learn if their sup 

 ply of asparagus came from the east. The replies to my inquires 

 gave the information that they received nothing from the east, 

 but that it all came from the south, where the asparagus-beetle is 

 not known to exist. The introductions at Rock Island and Chi 

 cago had undoubtedly died out, as it has not, to my knowledge, 

 been again reported from the former locality, and Mr. Bolter 

 stated that he had not observed it about Chicago since. Would 

 the Cleveland occurrence, which was only in a private garden, 

 and the Salem introduction also die out ? And how in the world 

 did the thing ever get into Ohio ? The country about Salem is 

 not devoted to truck farming, while there are hundreds of acres 

 near Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago that are and have been for 

 years. Last year, 1894, I found the species breeding quite 

 abundantly on runaway or volunteer stalks of asparagus growing 

 in uncultivated fields about 15 miles east of Cleveland, and it was 

 reported to me, with specimens, as very destructive at Lordstown, 

 almost directly between Salem and Cleveland, but much nearer 



* In my paper, above referred to, Akron was given as a point of infection, 

 but this has since proven to be an error. 



