THE COLEOPTERA 



123 



arsenate of lead, standard formula. Dusting with Paris green and land 

 plaster may also be used with some success as a control method. Where 

 the larvae mine in the leaves, as certain species do to some extent, treat- 

 ment must be directed toward the destruction of the adults which indeed, 

 should be the case with all the species. Where plants are started in seed 

 beds and are attacked there, screening the beds with cheese-cloth is 

 practicable. When plants from seed beds are set out they may be pro- 

 tected by dipping them in 1 Ib. of arsenate of lead paste in 10 gal. of 

 water before setting them. 



It is believed that the Cucumber Flea-beetle like the Three-lined 

 Cucumber Beetle may inoculate plants with the cucurbit wilt already 

 referred to. Certainly the tiny holes made in the leaves by their feeding 

 provide excellent places for the spores of fungi to establish themselves 

 and produce disease. 



The Common Asparagus Beetle (Crioceris asparagi L.). This insect 

 reached this country from Europe about 1856 and is now present in the 

 Eastern States as far south as North Carolina and westward to the Mis- 

 sissippi River. Farther west it has been reported from several scattered 

 localities, including California, and it may be assumed that it will in 

 time become generally distributed. 



FIG. 114. Common Asparagus beetle (Crioceris asparagi L.) : a, Adult; b, Egg; c, 

 larva, just hatched; d, full-grown larva. Greatly enlarged: hair lines beside a and b show 

 real length. (From U. S. D. A. Farm. Bull. 837.) 



The adult beetle (Fig. 114) is a little less than a quarter of an inch 

 long. It is dark blue or bluish black, with a red thorax, and its elytra 

 are dark blue and yellow, the former present as a band along the middle, 

 with two lateral extensions toward the sides into the yellow, while the 

 outer border is reddish. The distribution and amount of the blue and 

 yellow varies considerably according to the locality, the blue often so 

 encroaching on the yellow as to leave only six spots of the latter color. 



The insect winters in the beetle stage in any protected place it can 

 find, and as the asparagus plants begin to come up in spring, leaves its 

 winter quarters to feed and lay its eggs (Fig. 115a). The beetles at this 



