Eighth Report of the State Entomologist, 25] 



Its Introduction. — Orioceris asparagi is an European species, 

 which our commercial and other relations with the Old World have 



brought to our shores, in common with a large Dumber of our 

 most destructive Insect pests. It was first noticed upon the east- 

 ern end of Long Island, at Astoria, in the year 1859, and it is 

 worthy of note that, in the same year, the first specimens of 

 another very injurious insect, also introduced from Europe. — the 

 cabbage butterfly, Pier is raj a , was taken, in the city of Quebec. As 

 early as 1862 the beetle had spread over all the asparagus planta- 

 tions of Long Island. The following year it was attacked by a 

 parasite which destroyed its eggs, and doubtless aided much in 

 arresting its increase. The parasite was not described. It prob- 

 ably disappeared before it could receive scientific attention, for 

 nothing seems to be known of it at the present. 



Its Distribution. — In 1868 the beetle had extended its range into 

 New Jersey, where, in the third year of its observation, entire beds 

 were ruined by it. Its rate of distribution, in its earlier years, 

 appears to have been about twenty miles a year, but fortunately 

 this has not been sustained. During the twenty -five years that 

 have elapsed since its introduction, it has not shown a disposition 

 to extend far from the sea-coast, nor to a great distance from New 

 York city, as its center of operations. Serious injuries from it 

 have only been reported from Long Island, the vicinity of New 

 York city, Southern Connecticut, New Jersey and Eastern Penn- 

 sylvania. It has not been seen at Albany, although during the last 

 year I have received examples of it collected at the New York 

 State Agricultural Experiment Station, at Geneva — a locality that 

 lies to the westward of the central portion of the State. An equal 

 extension from New York could carry it into any portion of Massa- 

 chusetts. It is a matter of surprise to me that it has not made, 

 long ere this, formidable demonstration in the eastern — particu- 

 larly the seaboard — portion of your State. 



Its Natural History. — The history of C. asparagi is, in brief, as 

 follows: The beetles destined to continue the species survive the 

 winter in dry, sheltered places, as beneath bark, in crevices of 

 wood, and under the clapboards of buildings. Simultaneously with 

 the appearance of the asparagus shoots in early spring, they 



