8TATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
659 
ASPARAGUS BEETLE. A EUROPEAN INSECT, NEWLY INTRODUCED HERE 
INSECTS INFESTING GARDENS. 
1. Asparagus Beetle, Crioceris dsparagi, Linn. (Coleoptera. Crioceridae.) 
Upon asparagus stalks, throughout th« summer, eating irregular roundish spots in the bark; 
oblong shining blue-black beetles about a quarter of an inch long, with a tawny red fore body and 
three bright lemon yellow spots on each wing-cover; and with them ou the stalks their larvae, 
which arc soft bodied, thrice as long as thick, thicker posteriorly, of a dull ash gray or obscure 
olive color, with black heads and legs, of which there are three pairs all placed upon the breast. 
Much the most important entomological event in our State the present year 
(1862) has been the appearance upon the asparagus on Long Island of an 
insect new to us in this country, and doing great injury to this important crop, 
threatening even its total destruction. This insect has accordingly been the 
most prominent subject for investigation which has occurred to me since my 
last Report was prepared. And I accordingly here present the researches 
which have l;eeu made and the facts obtained respecting it and the vegetation 
on which it preys—for, as every one will be aware upon a moment’s reflection, 
to enable us to discover the most effectual modes of combating an insect 
enemy, it is necessary that we know not only the history, habits and lurking 
places of the insect itself during each of the several states or stages of its 
life, but that we be also well acquainted with the vegetation which it attacks, 
its nature, mode of cultivation and all the circumstances attending its germi¬ 
nation and growth. 
Our garden asparagus, it merits to be observed, is a native of the southern 
and central countries of Europe, growing wild there, in sandy soils, mostly 
adjacent to the salt water. The succulent young heads which shoot up from 
its roots are so tender and palatable as to have rendered it one of the choicest 
of culinary vegetables and to have brought it into cultivation in gardens from 
time immemorial. By the writers of ancient Rome, Pliny, Cato and others, 
it is spoken of and extolled, the same as by writers of the present day. 
In its native countries we see three and perhaps more insects are recorded 
as feeding upon and injuring the asparagus. One of these being quite com¬ 
mon is a great pest to the European gardeners. It is called the Asparagus 
Beetle and in works of science is named Crioceris Asparagi. It appears to 
abound everywhere that the asparagus is cultivated upon the eastern continent, 
and at times becomes so multiplied in particular districts as to greatly injure 
or even ruin the plants. Kollar, in his Treatise on Insects injurious to Gar¬ 
deners and Farmers, places this as the second insect under the head of those 
which injure gardens. 
Plants of the Asparagus kind and forming the group or genus to which the 
name Asparagus is given by botanists, are easily distinguished from other 
erbaceous plants by their leaves, which are very narrow and thread-like, 
similar to those of the larch or tamarack tree. Some of these plants are 
oreeping vines, twining around and running over other shrubbery, or some- 
‘mes having stiff thorn-like branches whereby they hook to their supports. 
