ASPARAGUS INSECTS 207 



very little if at all on the foliage but wanders about till it 

 finds a berry, which it enters usually at the blossom end. 

 The larva feeds on the seeds and migrates from berry to 

 berry until full-grown. Sometimes three or four berries are 

 attacked by a single larva. In the course of its develop- 

 ment, the larva passes through three stages. When full- 

 grown it is about ^ inch in length and varies in color from 

 light orange to brownish yellow. The legs and two spots on 

 the prothorax are black. The larva becomes mature in three 

 to four weeks. It then descends to the ground, where just 

 below the surface it spins a tough silken cocoon into which 

 particles of dirt are incorporated. In about two days after 

 building its cocoon, the larva transforms to a yellowish pupa 

 and in twelve to sixteen days the transformation to the adult 

 takes place. In New York the beetles of the second brood 

 appear in July and lay eggs for a second generation. The 

 beetles of the next brood emerge in August and September and 

 go into hibernation with the advent of cold weather. There 

 are two generations annually in the North. 



In Europe two other beetles attack asparagus, the fourteen- 

 spotted and the five-spotted asparagus beetles {Crioceris qua- 

 i nor decim punctata and C. quinquepiinctata) . The larvae of both 

 species are said to feed on the foliage in much the same way 

 as the larva of the common asparagus beetle. 



Methods of control. 



Since the larvse live inside the berries, they cannot be reached 

 with an arsenical poison but the beetles may be killed by spray- 

 ing with arsenate of lead as suggested for the control of the 

 common asparagus beetle. 



References 



Lintner, 12th Rept. State Ent. N. Y., pp. 248-252. 1897. 

 Sajo, Prometheus, 13, pp. 166-171. 1902. 

 Cornell Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 331, pp. 422-435. 1913. 

 U. S. Farm. Bull. 837. 1917. 



