NOTES ON THE ASPARAGUS BEETLES. 
By F. H. Chittenden, 
Entomologist in Charge of Breeding Experiments. 
Since the publication of the writer's general article on the asparagus 
beetles in the Yearbook for 1896, a many notes on their distribution and 
destructive occurrences have been published. Some additional data 
were published soon afterward. 6 The following- brief review of the 
subject is submitted as a sequel to those articles and a summary of the 
further dissemination of these pests in a decade of years. 
THE COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE. 
( Crioceris asparagi L. ) 
The predictions made by the writer in regard to the future distri- 
bution of the common asparagus beetle have been completely fulfilled 
as regards its western spread, although it has not as yet been reported 
as far south as Kentucky. Mr. J. G. Sanders, however, informs the 
writer that it has been established about Columbus, Ohio, since 1903, 
and Mr. Charles Dury, Cincinnati, Ohio, reported this species at Indian 
Hill, about 7 miles from that city, on asparagus beds in 1905. Hundreds 
were observed during June. The customary injury was noticed, and 
plants appeared as though scorched with fire. In 1897 the species 
was observed to have continued its spread westward along Lake Erie, 
and was then known in nine counties in northeastern Ohio. The fol- 
lowing year it was first noticed in western Virginia. In 1898 also it 
was reported to have been present at Benton Harbor, Mich., since 
1896. By 1899 it had made its appearance in Canada, accompanied b}^ 
the twelve-spotted species, in the Niagara River region. 
It is interesting to note that in 1900 the present species, which had 
been rapidly increasing its range in the East, including New York, 
after occurring in injurious numbers in Maryland, was apparently 
totally destroyed by the hot spell of July and August that occurred 
in the District of Columbia and neighboring parts of Virginia and 
Maryland; whence the conclusion that this condition prevailed to a 
considerably larger extent than came to the writer's personal notice. 
In 1901 Dr. James Fletcher noted that the species, though present in 
the Niagara district, had not increased to the extent that was feared. 
It had spread to Guelph, Ontario, that year, and did much damage 
about St. Catharines. In 1904 its occurrence around Toronto was 
a Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. f. 1896 (1897), pp. 341-352. 
6 Bui. 10, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agric, pp. 54-59, 1898. 
6 
