No. 4.] INSECTS AND GARDEN CROPS. 



323 



"grubs" with black heads. Each grub feeds until full 

 grown, which takes from ten days to two weeks, after which 

 it leaves the plant, enters the ground and forms a small, 

 rounded cocoon, within which it remains quiet for about a 

 week, during which time the structure is changing to that of 

 the adult beetle. When this change is completed the beetle 

 escapes to feed, mate, and lay eggs for the next brood. 



Fig. 1. — The asparagus beetle: a, ntlult beetle; the line beside it shows the real length 

 of the beetle. On the right a liranch of asparagus, showing eggs, grubs and beetles, 

 natural size; also an asparagus tip with eggs, aud places eaten out. {From CliUten- 

 den. Yearbook, Deparbnent of Agriculture, ISOG.) 



This brood has the same history as the last, and it is prob- 

 able that a third brood is produced during the year, before 

 cold weather drives the beetles into their winter quarters. 



The adult beetle is rather less than a quarter of an inch 

 long, with a black head, red thorax, and yellow and dark- 

 blue wing covers, the blue forming a stripe along the middle 



