THE ASPARAGUS MINER. 6 
In 1900 we received complaint of injuries in the District of Columbia, 
and from Knoxville, Tenn., and in the meantime the species came 
under the observation of Mr. F. A. Sirrine, who has stated " that work 
was first observed in asparagus fields on Long Island in 1896. This 
statement is made in a bulletin of six pages, which represents all that 
was known of the species at that time. 
Late in September, 1900, word was received from Mr. Frederic 
Voigt, ^Tennallytown, D. C, of injury to the stalks of asparagus on 
his and a neighboring truck farm. When the writer visited the 
field, however, although injury was apparent on the outer skin of 
some stalks, no living specimens could be obtained, only the dried 
puparia being in evidence at this time. October 2 of the same year, 
Mr. Samuel M. Bain, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn., sent 
a stalk of asparagus showing the work of this miner upon the skin, 
and, October 27, specimens of the dried puparia. 
February 18, 1901, Mr. T. Miles Brous, Bustleton, Philadelphia, Pa., 
wrote that this insect, which he accurately described, seemed to cause 
much greater trouble than the common asparagus beetle. A neighbor 
had lost two or three new beds of asparagus on account of its ravages. 
By the writer's direction, Mr. F. C. Pratt visited a large truck farm 
at Brookland, D. C, where asparagus was one of the main crops, June 
18, 1902. Asparagus was still being cut for market, but volunteer 
plants were growing here and there in fields of corn, cantaloupe, and 
potatoes, between rows. A few flies were seen on terminal shoots of 
asparagus that showed wilting, and many volunteer plants were found 
badly infested, most individuals having transformed to pupae. 
Although stems break off just below the ground, the entire colony of 
insects below that point is left with sufficient moisture and nourish- 
ment for their maintenance. The puparia were present in great 
numbers underneath the outer skin of the root, and as many as nine 
puparia were counted in a space only an inch long on one stalk. The 
stalks below the point of injury appeared to be perfectly sound. 
Larvae also were found in rotting stalks that broke off just below ground. 
During 1905 Mr. Ralph E. Smith reported this species as becoming 
abundant in California, though not of any great importance at that 
time. His description of the insects' manner of work leaves no doubt 
as to the identity of the species. 6 
RECENT INJURY. 
During September, 1906. Messrs. »I. B. Norton and A. IX Shamel, 
of the Bureau of Plant Industry, furnished stems of asparagus from 
Concord, Mass., showing severe infestation by this species, nianv 
« Bui. 189, N. Y. Agric. Exp. Sta., p. 277, Geneva, L900, 
6 Bui. 165, Univ. of Oil. Agric. Exp, Sta., p. 96, L905, 
