NOTES ON THE ASPARAGUS BEETLES. 7 



noticed. It was reported also 40 miles west of Chicago, 111. It has 

 become very o-enerally distributed in asparagus-growing districts in 

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

 northernmost limit in this country. In 1905 we receiv'ed complaint 

 of this inject as a pest in Illinois, ;it Park Kidge, and of its occurrence 

 about Chicago. Reports from Michigan showed that it had been 

 present there in 190-i in the vicinity of Ada, about 10 miles from 

 (xrand Kapids, and that it was a pest in that vicinity. 



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 knowledge; neverthe- 

 less although there are naturally raan}^ uninvaded localities, it is 

 undoubtedly established in that State, most probably 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, 

 Fau(|uier County, Va., a little farther inland than it had ever been 

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

 lished in the adjoining Alexandria County for many years. 



August 8, 1905, Mr. Ralph E. Smith wrote of the occurrence of this 

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

 abundant at Bouldin Island, the principal asparagus 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 j^ear. 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 thoroughly established is not without precedent, as its 

 recorded occurrence at Rock Island, 111., many 3'ears ago, has been 

 verified by specimens now in a Chicago museum, properly labeled 

 as collected there by the late A. Bolter, an experienced collector of 

 Coleoptcra. Indeed, it would 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. 



Octol)er 2fi, 1900, Mi-. Ralph E. Smith, at the writer's request, 

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

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

 dant in fields near Oakley, Cal. It could not be stated that the insect 

 was of general occurrence in the Stiite, but apparently it existed only 

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

 Bouldin Island appears to have been exterminated by flood, and 

 55968°— Bull. 66—10 2 



