NOTES ON thp: asparaofs beetles. 7 



noticed. It was reported also 40 miles west of Chicao-o, 111. It has 

 become very oeiierally distributed in asparag-us growino- districts in 

 New York State, and has reached Glens Falls, which approximates its 

 northernmost limit in this country. In 1905 we received complaint 

 of this insect as a pest in Illinois, at Park Kidge, and of its occurrence 

 about Chicago. Reports from Michigan showed that it had been 

 present there in 1904 in the vicinit}^ of Ada, about 10 miles from 

 Grand Ra]iids, and that it was a pest in that Wcinitj'. 



Although the data given above indicate that the species is now well 

 distributed throughout the Upper Austral region, for some reason its 

 occurrence in Indiana has not yet come to our knowledg-e; neverthe- 

 less although there arc naturally many uninvaded localities, it is 

 undoubtedly established in that State, most probabl}'^ near Lake 

 Michigan. 



As an example of its manner of distribution, it might be noted that 

 in May, 1905, the beetle was found for the first time, in Warrenton, 

 Faucjuier County, Va., a little farther inland than it had ever been 

 noticed in that section. Yet this species has been permanentlj^ estab- 

 lished in the adjoining- Alexandria County for many years. 



Aug-ust 8, 1905, My. Ralph E. Smith ^^■rote of the occurrence of this 

 species in California, stating that during- two seasons it had been very 

 abundant at Bouldin Island, the principal asparag'us center of that 

 region. As Mr. Smith was familiar with this insect and its occur- 

 rence on the Atlantic coast, there is little doubt that his identification 

 is correct. In the winter of 1904 to 1905 Bouldin Island was flooded 

 and remained under water for over a year. It had just been reclaimed 

 and there were no signs of the beetles. There is, therefore, a possibility 

 that the insect was exterminated in that region, and this includes the 

 State, if the occurrence of the species was only local. 



The dying- out of this asparagus beetle in small localities where it 

 has not become thoroughl}^ established is not without precedent, as its 

 recorded occurrence at Rock Island, 111., many years ago. has l)een 

 veritied l)v specimens now in a Chicago nuiseum, properh^ labeled 

 as collected there b}^ the late A. Bolter, an expei-ienced collector of 

 Coleoptera. Indeed, it Avould seem that few vegetable-feeding insects 

 are more subject to extermination in a limited locality "not contiguous 

 to one also infested than is the present species. 



October t2(), 190(i, Mr, Ralph E. Smith, at the writer\s request, 

 reported the status of this species in California. He wrote that during 

 fche summer he found the beetles again, and that they were very abun- 

 dant in fields near Oakley, Cal, It could not l)e stated that the insect 

 was of general occurrence in the State, l)ut apparently it exist«Ml only 

 in a few scattered colonies. As previously reported the colony at 

 Bouldin Island appears to have been exterminated by flood, and 



