THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



AUGUST, 1837. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. A Series of Articles on the Insects most injurious to Culti- 

 vators. By J. O. Westwood, F.L.S., Secretary to the Er.torao- 

 logical Society of London. 



No. 6. The Asparagus Beetle. 

 One of the most elegant species of coleopterous insects found 

 in this country is the little beetle which is attached to the 

 asparagus, and whose habits will form the subject of the present 

 article. 



Order, Coleoptera Linnceus. See p. 100. 



Family, Crioc^ridae Leach. (Plant beetles, so named after the principal genus.) 



Genus, Crioceris Geoffroy. (A name derived from two Greek words, signify- 

 ing a ram's horns ; in allusion to the form of the antennae, which are 

 cylindrical, with globular joints, somewhat like the horns of a ram.) Lema 

 Fabricius, Chrysomela Linnceus. 



Species, Crioceris asparagi Linncsus (Chrysomela asp.) Donov. Brit. Ins., 

 i. pi. 28. 



Le Criocere porte Croix de I'Asperge Geoffroy Ins. Paris., vol. i. p. 241. 



This beautiful little insect is ordinarily about a quarter of an 

 inch in length, of an oblong form, with the head rather broader 

 than the thorax, which is cylindrical, and narrower than the 

 elytra. Its general colour is a fine blue black : this is the 

 colour of the legs and head : the antennae are black ; the thorax, 

 or, more properly speaking, the upper surface of the prothorax, 

 is of a fine red, with two dorsal black spots, which, in some 

 individuals, are so small as to be scarcely visible. The elytra 

 are long, each having several rows of impressed spots ; the ex- 

 ternal margin is orange-coloured ; the central part, or suture, 

 blue black ; the disc of each elytra is varied with cream-coloured 

 and blue-black marks, which have somewhat the appearance of 

 a cross upon a pale ground, the transverse bar of the cross being 

 in the centre of the back. These spots vary occasionally in 

 their size : sometimes, for instance, the pale humeral spot is 

 wanting, and in others the bars of the cross disappear. The spe- 

 cimen figured represents the ordinary appearance of the insect 

 greatly magnified. 



Vol. XUI.— No. 89. z 



