6 
assumed. The pupa is yellowish in color, and its appearance is sufli- 
ciently shown by the illustration (fig. 3,e). In five to eight or more 
days the adult beetle is produced, which in due time issues from the 
ground. 
THE LIFE CYCLE. 
Of the duration of the life cycle Fitch has remarked that it is about 
thirty days from the time the egg is laid until the insect grows to 
maturity and comes out in its perfect form, but that the time will be 
shorter in the hottest part of the season than in the cooler days of 
May and June. These periods are for Long Island. 
During a hot spell in midsummer the minimum period of ovulation 
and of the pupa stage was observed at Washington, D. C. Eggs that 
were laid on the 5th of August hatched on the 8th, or in three days. 
A larva transformed to pupa on August 4+ and to adult August 9, or 
in five days. Allowing ten days as the minimum credited period of 
the larval stage, a day or two for the larva to enter the ground and 
form its cocoon, and two or three 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 three 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 south- 
ward. In the colder climate of New England, and elsewhere in spring 
and autumn weather, the development from egg to beetle will require 
from four to perhaps seven weeks. The hibernating beetles appear 
in the latitude of the District of Columbia as early as April, and 
beetles of a later brood have been observed in abundance in October 
as far north as northern Connecticut. In its northern range two and 
perhaps three broods are usually produced, and farther south there 
is a possibility of four or five generations each year. 
NATURAL CHECKS. 
The common asparagus beetle has very efficient natural checks in 
the shape of predaceous insects of many kinds, which prey upon its 
larvee and assist very materially in preventing its increase. One of 
the most efficient of these is the spotted ladybird, IWegilla maculata 
DeG. The beetle is rose-colored, with numerous black spots. The 
convergent ladybird (//ippodamia convergens Guer.), the spined 
soldier-bug (Podisus maculiventris Say), and the bordered sol- 
dier-bug (Stiretrus anchorago Fab., fig. 5) are also active de- 
stroyers of asparagus beetle larve, which they attack and kill by 
impaling them upon their long proboscides and sucking out their 
juices. Certain species of wasps and small dragon-flies also prey 
upon the asparagus beetle grubs. Two of the most abundant of 
[Cir. 102] 
