6 FARMERS BULLETIN 837. 



place to place along watercourses by the current and by the rising 

 and falling of the tide. Until recently this insect has not spread far 

 from the seacoast and the larger riv-ei-s near the coast. As is well 

 known, asparagus was origmally a salt water plant, and has escaped 

 from cultivation and grows most luxuriantly near bodies of water 

 and it is upon wild asparagus plants that this insect first makes its 

 appearance in new localities. 



HABITS AND DEVELOPMENT. 



The common asparagus beetle passes the winter in the adult state 

 under convenient shelter, such as piles of rubbish, sticks, or stones, 

 or under the loose bark of trees and fence posts. Toward the end 

 of April or in Ma}", according to locality, at about the season for cut- 

 ting the asparagus for market, the beetles issue from 

 their hibernating quarters and lay eggs for the first 

 brood. 



The egg is very large in proportion to the beetle, 

 being nearly a sixteenth of an inch in length, and of 

 the olongated-oval form illustrated at h, figure 1. It 

 is nearly three times as long as wide and of a dark- 

 brown color. The eggs are deposited endwise upon 

 the stem or foliage and, in early spring, on the devel- 

 FiG. 4. — Eggs of oping stalks, usually in rows of 2 to 7 or more. (Fig. 4.) 

 .common aspara- ii;^ ffon^ 3 to 8 days the eggs hatch, the young lar- 



gusbcctleonas- ^ ^^ i ,,u ,, u i ,> 



paragus buds, vsp, commoiily called grubs, worms, or slugs, 

 Somewhat en- presenting the appearance indicated in figure 1, c. 

 The head of the newl}^ -hatched larva is large, black, 

 and beadlike; its body is lead gray, and its three pairs of legs 

 black. It begins to feed at once and in from 10 days to a fort- 

 night attains full size, appearing as in figure 1, d. As previously 

 stated, it is soft and fleshy, much wrinkled, and of a dark gray or 

 olive color, sometimes light, but not infrequently very dark. Tlie 

 head is shining black, as are also the 6 legs. Each segment is pro- 

 vided with a pair of footlike tubercles which, with the anal prolegs, 

 or false hind legs, assist it in crawling and in clinging to the plant. 

 The mature larva enters the earth, and here, within a little rounded, 

 dirt-covered cocoon formed by it, changes to a yellowish ])upa 

 (fig. \, e). In 5 to 8 or morerdays tliis transforms to the aduU beetle, 

 which in a short time issues from the gromid. 



THE LIFE CYCLE. 



The life cycle, or the time from the la3'mg of the egg to the 

 emergence of the adult, or beetle, covers about 30 days on Long 

 Island, N. Y., but this period will be shorter in the hotter part of 

 the season than in the cooler days of May and June. . 



I 



