1906 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



47 



parsnips, potatoes, salsify, etc., in tlie vegetable garden. Early in the 

 season it did some damage to strawberry and currant blossoms. This is a 

 true bug and, like all the other members of the order, obtains its food by 

 piercing the tissues of the plant it attacks and sucking out the juices. The 

 adult insects (fig. 5) are about a quarter of an inch in length and vary in 

 colour from yellowish-green to a dark brown. It may easily be recognized 

 by the yellowish lines on the thorax and the yellow Y-shaped mark just 

 beiiind tnem on the scutellum. Choice plants may be protecietl by dusting 

 with Pyrethrum insect powder mixed with three or four times its weight 

 of Hour and applied in early morning when the insects are sluggish ai;d the 

 foliage is moist with dew. On a larger scale kerosene emulsion or a decoc- 

 tion of tobacco may be used with advantage, if applied early in the morn- 

 ing before the bugs become too lively. 



The two species of Asparagus Beetles, the Blue (Crioceris asparagi) and 

 the 12-spotted (C. 12-punctatus) were very abundant all through the sea- 

 son, and were to be found on the plants as late as the end of September. 

 Until last year the latter species alone was to be found, but now the Blue 

 l-eetle (fig. 6) has caught up to it here on its spreading movement northward 

 and westward. Both species have no doubt come to stay, and it is a pest 

 that will have to be reckoned with by asparagus growers from now onward, 

 just as we have the Colorado potato-beetle always with us. In spring when 

 the sboots are being cut for table use, the beetles may be kept off by dusting 

 with lime; later on, when the plants have grown large, the larvae of the Blue 

 species will be found feeding upon the foliage and may then be destroyed 

 by dusting with a mixture of Paris Green and lime, or with flour instead 

 of lime, which is often difficult to procure. These larvae are somewhat slug- 

 like in shape and are of a greenish colour. The larvae of the other species, 

 the 12-spotted, feed upon the seeds of the asparagus plant and live inside 

 the round pods. They cannot, therefore, be treated with poisons, but may 

 be got rid of by cutting down and burning all the seed-bearing plants as 

 soon as the pods have attained their full size and are beginning to turn red. 



Fig. 7. — The Blue Asparagus 

 Beetle. Enlarged 8 times. 

 (After Chittenden, U.S. 

 Dept. Agric. ) 



Fig. 8.— The 12-Spotted 

 Asparagus Beetle. En- 

 larged 8 times). After 

 Chittenden, U.S.'Dept. 

 Agric. ) 



Both beetles are often to be found on the same plant and may easily be re- 

 cognized, one (fig. 8) being of a reddish-orange colour with 12 round black 

 spots on the wing covers ; the other (fig. 7) is of a shining blue-black colour 

 with white blotches on the wing-covers. These vary a good deal in size and 

 shape and sometimes form a cross of the ground colour on the back. They 

 I*a.--.s the winter in the adult state and are ready to attack the asparagus shoots 



