242 



FIRST A]SrN"UAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Their color is blackisli-brown. They are placed on end on the young 

 plant, usually in rows of from two to seven. When the plants are 

 grown, the eggs are deposited on the leaves near the end of the 

 delicate branches. 



Tlie larva. — The young larva and the mature form are represented ' 

 upon the upper portion of the stem, and on the left in the figure, it is 

 given enlarged. Its greatest length is about one-fourth of an inch. 

 "It is of an obscure olive or dull ash-gray color, often with a blackish 

 stripe along the middle of the back. It is soft and of a flesh-like con- 

 sistency, about three times as long as thick, thickest back of the mid- 

 dle, with the body much wrinkled transversely. The head is black 

 and shining, and the neck, which is thicker than the head, has two 

 shining black spots above. Three pairs of legs are placed anteriorly 

 upon the breast, and are of the same shining black color with the head. 

 As will be seen when it is crawling, the larva clings also with the tip 

 end of the body ; and all along its under side may then be seen two 

 rows of small tubercles, slightly projecting from the surface, which 

 serve as prolegs in addition to the tip of its body. Above these tuber- 

 cles on each side is a row of elevated shining dots like warts, above 

 which the breathing pores appear like a row of minute black dots." 

 (Fitch.) 



The beetle. — The beetle is a very pretty insect in its trim form, con- 

 trasting colors of yellow, red and shining-black, and its conspicuous 

 ornamentation. Its average length is a little less than one-fourth of 

 an inch. The head is black, with the first three 

 joints of the short antenuje smaller and differently 

 colored from the remainder. The finely punctured 

 thorax is tawny- red, marked more or less dis- 

 tinctly on its crown with two black spots. The 

 wing-covers are punctured in rows, and usually ap- 

 pear of a lemon color, broken into three spots on 

 each, as in the accompanying figure, by a black 

 stripe along their junction, a black transverse 

 band a little behind their middle, and an inter- 

 rupted one near their tips. Outwardly the wing 

 covers are bordered with orange. The body be- 

 neath and the legs are shining black, the latter 

 sometimes showing a yellowish band upon them. 

 Examples having the wing-covers marked as above? 

 suggest the representation of a black cross upon 

 the back, for which reason it is sometimes known 

 in Eno-land as the "cross-bearer." 



Fig. Yl. — The Aspara- 

 gus beetle (the " cross- 

 bearer" form), its larva, 

 and its eggs upon a young 

 plant. 



