PACKARD.] THE PARSNIP-BUTTERFLY. 765 



fed in teu or twelve days. The grub feeds upon the asparagus, gnawing 

 through the outer bark, " preferring the tender bark on the ends of the 

 stalks and on the branches to the more tough and stringy bark toward 

 the base of the stem." In about thirty days from the time the egg is 

 laid the beetle appears, and is found through the summer and autumn, 

 hibernating in the winter in crevices in fences, etc. The beetles " feed 

 upon the bark, eating irregular oval or oblong holes through it, length- 

 wise of the stalks, and varying in size from about an eighth to a quarter 

 of an inch in length. These holes are most numerous toward the top of 

 the stalks and on the branches, where, frequently, nearly the whole of 

 the bark is consumed." 



Description of the larva. — It attains a length of about a quarter of an inch. It is of 

 an obscure olive or dull ash-gray color, often with a blackish stripe along the middle 

 of the back. It is soft and of a flesh-like consistency, about three times as long as 

 thick, thickest back of the middle, with the body much wrinkled transversely. The 

 bead is black and shining, and the neck, which is thicker than the head, has two shin- 

 ing black spots above. Three pairs of legs are placed anteriorly upon the breast, and 

 are of the same shining black color with the head. As will be seen when it is crawling, 

 the larva clings also with the tip end of its body, and all along its under side may then 

 be seen two rows of small tubercles, slightly projecting from the surface, which serve 

 as prolegs in addition to the tip of its body. Above these tubercles on each side is a 

 row of elevated shining dots like warts, above which the breathing-pores appear like 

 a. row of minute black dots. 



The beetle is oblong, blue-black, the prothorax bright tawny-red ; the wing-covers 

 broadly bordered with orange-yellow, while along the middle is a row of three lemon- 

 yellow spots. The legs and under side of the body are shining blue-black, and there is 

 frequently a dull yellowish baud below the knees, and a spot of the same color on the 

 base of the hind thighs. — (Fitch.) 



Remedy. — Hand-picking and the aid of hens and chickens. 



INSECTS INFESTING THE CARROT AND PARSNIP. 



The Parsnip-Buttekfly, Papilio asterias Drury. — Feeding upon the leaves of the 

 carrot, parsley, and parsnips ; a large yellow caterpillar, smooth, cylindrical, striped and 

 spotted with black, and changing to a large and black swallow-tailed butterfly, spotted 

 with yellow. 



Our large, common asterias butterfly is not usually common enough to 

 be injurious, but is liable in certain seasons to be locally so. It appears 

 in the Northern States in June, when it lays its eggs on the leaves of 

 the carrot, parsley, and parsnip. From this brood a new set of butter- 

 flies appear in August. The larva is yellow, striped and spotted with 

 black, and when irritated, pushes out from a slit just behind the head a 

 V-shaped, yellow, fleshy scent-organ, used as a means of defense. The 

 chrysalis is free, attached by the tip of the abdomen and supported by 

 a loose silken thread, which is passed over the back. It has two ear-like 

 I^rojections on each side of the head and a prominence on the back of 

 the thorax. It lives in this state from nine to fifteen days. 



The butterfly is black, with a row of yellow spots across the wing and 

 a similar row near the hinder edge, with a row of large blue patches on 

 the hind wings between the two rows of yellow spots. The female is 

 larger and differs from the male in wanting the inner row of yellow spots 

 on the fore wings. The wings expand from 3^-4 inches. The obvious 

 remedy is hand-picking. A large ichneumon fly, Trogon exesorius, preys 

 upon it. 



The seeds of these umbelliferous plants are often infested by minute 

 weevils, flies, and small moths, but we know as yet but little about 

 them. 



