NOTES ON THE ASPARAGUS BEETLKS. 9 
enable the poison to adhere better to smooth plants, 100 per cent of 
the insects were killed on the 50 plants treated. In this case the 
arsenate of lead was used at the rate of about 1 pound to 24 gallons of 
water, and 2i pounds of soap were added. 
Arsenate of lead has been used with satisfactory results on asparagus 
at the rate of 1 pound in 16 to 21 gallons of water. Additional experi- 
ments are necessary to ascertain the exact amount of the poison that can 
be used economically to produce the best effect. In Professor Surface's 
experiments evidently only a single spray was applied. 
THE TWELVE-SPOTTED ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 
( Crioceris 12-punctata L. ) 
Nearly every year since 1896, when the distribution of the twelve- 
spotted asparagus beetle was recorded by the writer," the appearance 
of this species has been noted in new localities in the United States, 
until it is now well distributed westward and especially northward. 
In 1898 Dr. J. B. Smith stated that it then occurred throughout the 
State of New Jersey "south of the shale from the Atlantic coast to the 
Delaware." The following year (1899) it was recorded by Dr. E. P. 
Felt from different counties in New York, and as far west as Buffalo. 
In some places the species was abundant, while in some near-by locali- 
ties it could not be found, showing that it was still locally distributed 
through New York. It was afterwards recorded present in Albany, 
Batavia, Leroy, Syracuse, Riverhead, Oswego, Center, Glendale, 
Richmond Hill, Penfield, Elmira, Geneva, Ithaca, and about Brooklyn, 
N. Y. It was also stated to occur in the Niagara district in Canada as 
far back as Hamilton, Ontario. 
An interesting point in regard to the occurrence of asparagus beetles 
in the Niagara peninsula was that the two species appeared to have 
arrived almost simultaneously in that region, but that the twelve- 
spotted form was by far the more common one. In after years dif- 
ferent observers noted its further spread in Canada, commenting upon 
the fact that it led the common species in becoming diffused by natural 
means. By 1902 it had appeared in Connecticut, at New Haven, and 
later in other parts of that State. 
Since some writers on these asparagus beetles have overlooked the 
author's second article 6 it may be well to mention that facts additional 
to those printed in the writer's original article are given therein, 
including a description and illustration of the egg and its manner of 
deposition, and what is practically a complete account of the life his- 
tory of the species, the insect being found to develop and to feed where 
possible almost exclusively on the berry, although the beetles attack 
young asparagus shoots before the berries appear. 
" Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agrie. I L896 (1897), pp, 350-351. 
&Bul. 10, Div. Ent, U. S. Dept Agric, pp. 57 59, 1898. 
