^^ 



92 REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I92I 



A week later the common asparagus beetle was much less abun- 

 dant though the twelve-spotted species was extremely numerous 

 and Mr Curran expressed the opinion that this latter was more 

 injurious and that it fed more actively. He added that he had 

 sprayed the uncut row two or three times a week with Paris green 

 and one morning an hour or two after spraying he found twenty- 

 eight dead beetles under one plant. A portion of a row had been 

 sprayed with pure kerosene by Mr Fitch and this application killed 

 many of the beetles and apparently caused very little injury to the 

 asparagus. 



The infestation in this particular locality was so severe that trap 

 crops and the collecting or destroying of the beetles afforded only 

 partial protection. The probabilities are that there had been no 

 spraying of the asparagus to prevent breeding the latter part of the 

 preceding season. 



The interesting little parasite, Tetrastichus asparagi 

 Crawf., was decidedly abundant on the trap row, one to three or 

 four frequently being found upon individual stalks. The insects 

 are rather slow in their movements and it is comparatively easy 

 to'snap them into a cyanid bottle. The eggs of this little species are 

 laidJiL^he eggs of the asparagus beetle, though the parasites do not 

 leave theXost until the grubs are fully grown, have entered the 

 soil and completed the pupal cell. Later parasites instead of 

 asparagus beetles issue. 



The most effective method of controlling these pests is to pro- 

 tect the uncut asparagus, usually in midsummer, with arsenate of 

 lead, thus preventing breeding during the latter part of the season 

 and making impossible a superabundance of beetles the following 

 spring. 



Asparagus leaf miner ( A g r o m y z a simplex Lw.). The 

 small, shining black flies of this species were abundant May 28, 

 1920, upon the asparagus of George Curran at West Albany. They 

 were found crawling upon the stalks and also resting upon the 

 partly expanded tips of the foliage. The insect was so numerous 

 that it was regarded as of some economic importance in that par- 

 ticular planting. 



Cabbage maggot (Phorbia brassicae Bouche. ) . This 

 insect was unusually abundant and injurious in the vicinity of 

 Albany during early summer, 11920, probably on account of the 

 unusual amount of rain keeping the soil about the plants somewhat 

 moist. W. F. Anamier of West Albany, who was rather seriously 



