REPORT OF TEE E^^TOMOLOGIST AND BOTAMST 213 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



of the last named have heon found in Newfoundland, as well as on the coast of Nova 

 Scotia; but no complaint has ever been made of injury by 0. rugifrons, nor previously 

 of depredations by Banjnotus schoenherri. Oiiorhynrhus sulcatus, on the other hand, 

 has on several occasions been reported as a rather troublesome pest in old beds of 

 strawberries. In Europe it has been called the Black Vine Weevil, from the fre- 

 quency of its injuries to the grape vine. 



Remedy. — Soon after the injury to cabbages was reported as above by Mr. Hiltz, the 

 beetles disappeared. The remedies sug-gosted were based on the structure of the beetle. 

 Although provided with well developed wing cases, these insects, like most of the others 

 belonging to the same natural family, have no true wings; so they can only gain 

 access to their food plant by crawling. Preventive remedies were therefore recom- 

 mended. Watering the plants with a kerosene emulsion, it was thought, might keep 

 the beetles away from plants so protected. The surrounding of the plants with tin 

 bands, as is done for cutworms, would also doubtless be effective, and perhaps a band 

 of paper might answer for the same purpose. It was further suggested that as this 

 insect is nocturnal in habit, traps in the shape of shingles or other easily handled 

 shelters might be placed about the field for the beetles to hide under during the day, 

 from which they might be collected in the morning and killed by dropping them into 

 some receptacle containing water on the top of which some coal oil had been poured. 

 There was no opportunity for trying these remedies ; but they may be remembered 

 at any future time, should the insect appear again in destructive numbers. 



This weevil is easily recognized by its thick-set oval shape, about f of an inch in 

 length, its uniform grayish-brown colour and its short thick beak. Very little is known 

 about its food habits ; but it is probable that it has other food plants besides members of 

 the Mustard family, and, if this should prove to be the case, some of these might be 

 used as traps by poisoning them with Paris green and, after tying them in bundles, 

 distribiiting them about the field at short intervals. 



Asparagus Beetles, Crioceris asparagi, L., and C. 12-punctata, L. — The two 

 species of Asparagus beetles are now a regularly occurring trouble to asparagus 

 growers in the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario counties. These insects are slender beetles 

 about a quarter of an inch in length and are very unlike in appearance and habits. 

 The Common Asparagus Beetle is conspicuously marked with six yellowish white 

 blotches on the wing-cases, which are of a metallic blue-black colour. The neck and 

 the borders of the wing cases are reddish. The 12-spotted Asparagus Beetle is of a 

 bright reddish orange with 12 round black spots on the wing covers. The larvse of 

 the first are of a dull olive green colour and slug-like in appearance. The eggs are 

 laid early in spring by the over-wintering beetles and are of a greenish black colour. 

 They are frequently laid in large numbeis upon the young shoots rendering these 

 unsightly for the market. The grubs feed upon the green growth and are produced 

 throughout the season. The grubs of the 12-spotted species are similar in shape to 

 those of the Common Asparagus Beetle, but arc of a dirty yellowish colour and feed 

 only inside the berries of the plant. The asparagus beetles made their first appear- 

 ance in Canada, in the Niagara peninsula in 1898, and have not only persisted there, 

 but have gradually spread in every direction since that date. They appeared in 

 Toronto three or four years ago and are now the cause of much anxiety fo asparagus 

 growers ; nevertheless, the spread, on the whole, is far less extensive that it was at first 

 feared it might be. During the past season, however, there was a wide extension. No 

 mention has been made of injury by the beetles to any distance east of Toronto; but 

 on the 20th September last, a few specimens of the larvse of the Common Asparagus 

 Beetle were found at Ottawa upon an isolated bed of asparagus which had been 

 planted for about twenty years and to which no new plants had been brought in from 

 outside. The beetles, therefore, must have flown to it from some distance. These 

 larva? buried soon after they were found, and nearly a month later the perfect beetles 

 were found in the breeding jar. The two species of Asparagus Beetles seem to have 



