REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST, 175 
SESSIONAL PAPER No. 8a 
The Common Asparagus Beetle is a narrow black beetle a little 
less than } of an inch in length and very prettily marked. The head 
legs and feelers are blue black, the thorax is chesnut red, the wing- 
cases are mainly blue black with six silvery white spots and are widely 
bordered around their edges with orange red. The markings on the 
wing-cases have, as shown in the illustration, somewhat the appearance 
of a double black cross. The wing-cases are shining and bear several 
longitudinal lines of deep punctures. This insect injures asparagus 
both in the larval and perfect states. The perfect beetles pass the 
winter hidden beneath rubbish, loose bark of trees or stones, and ap- 
pear just at the same time as the asparagus comes up, when they fly to 
the buds and begin to eat into the succulent shoots, upon which also 
they lay their eggs. These are brownish black in colour, large, com- 
a. pared with the size of the beetle, being nearly one-sixteenth of an inch 
en Bete length, nearly three times as high as wide, and stand out in every 
—enlarged. direction from the shoots. They are attached by one end and are laid 
on the shoots, and later on the foliage, in rows of 6 or 7 eggs. The young grubs hatch 
in a few days and are grayish with black 
shiny heads and legs, admirably shown in 
figure 12 c. They at once attack the young 
shoots, eating into them,and when touched 
these larve also emit a dirty blackish fluid 
which soils the shoots, spoiling them for 
the market. They are very voracious and 
grow rapidly, becoming full grown in about 
a fortnight, when they are dark greenish- 
gray, shiny bag-like grubs (Fig. 12d), which 
Fig. 12.—The Common Asparagus Beetle: erawl quickly but clumsily, drawing up their 
b, egg; ¢, d, larve ; e, pupa—enlarged. bodies and attaching themselves by their 
anal prolegs to the object upon which they are crawling. When ready to pupate, the 
“Th grubs burrow into the ground and change to yellowish pup 
\ \\\\\ //7 (Fig. 12e). In about a month from the time the eggs are laid, 
\ according to Fitch, the perfect beetles appear. There are probably 
two broods in a season in Canada. Mr. Chittenden says (loc. cit.) : 
‘‘The minimum life-cycle period of the species in the District of 
Columbia and southward is about three weeks from the time the 
egg is laid. In the colder climate of New England and in spring 
and summer weather the development from the egg to beetle 
ae will require from four to perhaps seven weeks. In its northern 
ast 13.—Egg of range two and perhaps three broods are usually produced, and fur- 
potted Asparagus ; eens . » 
Beetle—enlarged, | ther south there is a possibility of four or five generations each year. 
THe TWELVE-sPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE is about the same length as the above 
but is a slightly broader insect. The 
general colour is orange red, and the 
wing-cases bear 12 round black spots, 
the knees are also marked with black. 
This species was a much later intro- 
duction into America than the Com- 
mon Asparagus Beetle, not having 
been noticed until 1881, when it was 
found in considerable numbers at Bal- 
timore, Md., by Prof. Otto Lugger. 
It has, however, spread rapidly and 
now occurs with, and covers almost 
‘the same area as, the Common 
Asparagus Beetle. 
Fig. 14.—The Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle : a, beetle ; In the Canadian occurrence of these 
b, larva; c, 2nd abdominal segment of larva; d, do. of beetles during the past summer, both 
OU. asparagi—a, b, enlarged ; c, d, more enlarged. 
