130 ASPARAGUS 
in its different stages, asparagus top at the right show- 
ing eggs and injury. 
The duration of the life cycle is about thirty days 
from the time the eggs are laid until the insects attain 
maturity, but the time is shorter in the hotter parts of 
a season than in the cooler days of May or September. 
In the District of Columbia the eggs, in the warmest 
part of midsummer, develop in three days and the 
pupze in five days. From this it may be estimated 
that, in the very warmest weather, the devciopment of 
the insect may be effected in about three weeks from 
the time the egg is laid. In colder climates and in 
spring and autumn the development from egg to beetle 
will require from four to perhaps seven weeks. In the 
northern range of the species, two and perhans three 
broods are usually produced, and farther scuthward 
there is a possibility of at least a fourth generation. In 
the latitude of the District of Columbia the beetles 
usually disappear to enter into hibernation in the lat- 
ter days of September. 
The common asparagus beetle has very efficient 
checks in the shape of predaceous insects, which prey 
upon its larve and assist in preventing its undue in- 
crease. One of the most active of these predaceous 
inse¢ts is the spotted ladybird (Megzlla maculata DeG. ), 
represented in its several stages in the illustration (Fig. 
44.) The adult of this beetle is rose-colored, with 
numerous black spots. The spined soldier-bug (Podz- 
sus spinosus Dal.) and the bordered soidier-pug ‘,Szz- 
vetrus anchorado Fab.) are also useful as destroyers of 
asparagus beetle larvee, which they catch and kill by 
impaling them upon their long beaks and sucking out 
