ASPARAGUS BEETLES AND THEIR CONTROL. 



During a hot period at Washington, D. C, eggs that were laid on 

 August 5 hatched on the 8th, or in 3 days. A larva that transformed 

 to pupa on August 4 became adult August 9, or in 5 days. Allowing 

 10 or 12 days as a minimum period for the larva stage, 2 days for the 

 larva to enter the gromid and form its cocoon, and 2 or 3 days more 

 for the beetle to mature and leave the earth, the insect is again 

 ready to attack its food plant and to continue the reproduction of 

 its kind in about 4 weeks from the time that the egg is laid.^ This 

 may be fairly taken to represent the minimum midsummer life-cycle 

 period of the species in the District of Columbia and southward, 

 since the insect does not thrive in the summer season of tidewater 

 Virginia. In the colder chmatc of New England, and elsewhere in 

 spring and autumn weather, the development from egg to beetle 

 will require from 4 to perhaps 7 weeks. 



Fig. 5.— The spotted ladybird, an enemy of the common asparagus beetle: a, Larva; h, empty skin of 

 pupa; c, adult with more enlarged antenna above. Much enlarged. 



The hibernating beetles appear in the latitude of the District of 

 Columbia as early as April and beetles of a later brood have been 

 obsei'ved in abundance in October, as far north as northern Connec- 

 ticut. In its northern range usually at least two generations are 

 produced, and farther south tliera is a possibihty of three or four 

 generations each year. 



NATURAL CHECKS 



Predacious msects of many kmds attack and devour the larvae 

 of the common asparagus beetle and assist very materially in pre- 

 ventmg the beetle's mcrease. One of the most efficient is the 

 spotted ladybird.^ This beetle (fig. 5, c) is rose colored, with 

 numerous black spots. The convergent ladybird,'' the spined 



1 On Long Island it has been found by the Bureau of Entomology that the combined longtli of tlie larva 

 and pupa stages varies from 17 days in August to 46 days in October and November. 

 - Megilla maculata DeG.; 

 8 Hippodamia convergens Gu6r. 



