ENTOMOLOGY 143 



devour them; crows and other birds and skunks also destroy large 

 numbers when they can get access to them. 



In gardens digging deeply and trenching in the fall is very 

 useful, but in the flower beds where perennials are grown this is im- 

 practicable, and therefore recourse can only be made to disturbing 

 the soil between the plants as much as possible in late autumn and 

 early spring. Lawns and golf-links are frequently very badly af- 

 fected as they are left for many years undisturbed; sometimes the 

 roots of the turf have been so completely eaten off that the sod may 

 be rolled up like a carpet. In such cases the best plan is to dig up 

 the part affected and destroy the grubs, put in a fresh layer of soil 

 and resod or sow with grass seed. For small patches, watering with 

 kerosene emulsion, and washing it well in with plenty of water from 

 the garden hose, will kill the grubs. Where large areas are found to 

 be affected on golf-links r in pastures, the most effective plan is to 

 enclose the place with hurdles and turn in a few young pigs; they 

 will soon root out and devour all the grubs, and may then be re- 

 moved to another spot. 



Wireworms are the larvae of Click-beetles, so called from their 

 curious habit of springing up in the air with a click when laid upon 

 their backs. The beetles are long and narrow, rounded above, with 

 very short legs and usually dull gray or black in color. The grubs 

 are long and cylindrical, with a very hard integument from which 

 they get the name of Wire-worms, and yellow or whitish in color. 

 The life history is very similar to that of the White-grubs; they 

 breed chiefly in old pastures, take two or three years to mature, and 

 feed upon the roots of any plants that may be convenient to them ; 

 they are especially injurious to corn, and often may be found during 

 the winter feeding inside potatoes in which they burrow great holes. 

 No treatment of the soil with salt, poisons, etc., has any effect upon 

 them ; the only remedy is a short rotation of crops as in the case of 

 White-grubs ; plowing in August and cross-plowing again in Septem- 

 ber will destroy large numbers of them. In gardens, as the beetles 

 usually spend the winter under any shelter they can find, clean culti- 

 vation, especially along the fences, is of great importance ; in spring 

 many may be destroyed by placing bunches of clover or weeds pois- 

 oned with Paris green under shingles or bits of board where the 

 beetles go for shelter. 



ASPARAGUS. 



Asparagus Beetles. The two species, the Blue and the 12- 

 spotted, have spread over a great part of Ontario during the last few 

 years and in many places are very abundant. Both species are often 

 to be found upon the same plant; the former is shining blue-black 

 in color with creamy-white blotches on the wing covers which vary 

 a good deal in size and shape, and sometimes form a cross of the 

 ground color of the back ; the sides and the thorax are dull red and 

 the head black. The other species is the same length, about a quar- 

 ter of an inch, but is somewhat stouter; the whole insect is dull red 

 and polished and has twelve round black spots on the wing covers. 



