664 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
ASPARAGUS BEETLE. WINTER QUARTERS OF THE INSECT. IT COMES OUT IN MAT. 
from the asparagus at the close of the season, remain in the earth during the 
winter and produce the beetles which come abroad in May. To ferret out the 
winter quarters of the insect, therefore, my first step was to examine the 
earth in a place where these insects had been most numerous and destructive. 
But neither in contact with the underground portion of the stalks nor in the 
soil surrounding those stalks were any pupae to be found or any traces indi¬ 
cating that the soil had been mined and penetrated by these insects. Though 
disappointed and scarcely knowing where to look next, it was certain that the 
insect either in its larva, its pupa or its perfect state, was concealed some¬ 
where about these asparagusibeds in such numbers that its lurking place could 
surely be discovered. Upon inquiring the circumstances under which the 
insects had vanished, I was informed that the beetles had remained upon the 
asparagus without any apparent diminution of their numbers, until the first 
frosty night of autumn, when they suddenly and almost totally disappeared. 
A very few stragglers only were the latter part of October still remaining out 
apon the stalks on warm pleasant days; and observing them in this situation, 
«t occurred to me that if a cold wind were to arise it would so chill and 
benumb them that they would drop to the ground, where they would crawl 
■snder any rubbish, such as fallen leaves and fragments of straw and dead 
weeds, whifch they could there meet with, and thus concealed, they would 
■emain torpid through the winter and revive and come abroad again with the 
warmth of the following spring. Search was thereupon made under the small 
masses of haulm which were lying on the surface of the asparagus beds, but 
•nly occasionally could one of the beetles be met with in this situation, ren¬ 
ting it evident that this was not the retreat to which their legions had with¬ 
drawn for the winter. Turning next to examine a contiguous fence to see if 
*his could furnish any lurking place for them, upon raising a splinter from one 
«f the rails a view was obtained which it was wonderful to behold. The 
‘revjce under this sliver, a foot or more in length, was occupied by a throng 
of these beetles, crowded and compacted as closely together as it was possible 
for them to stow themselves. And on looking further, it was found that under 
the coarse lichens and moss growing upon some of the rails, under the dry 
bark adhering to others, under the loose scales of bark upon the trunks of 
trees, under the clapboards of buildings, in short, wherever a crack or crevice, 
so situated as to shed the rain, occurred around these asparagus plantations, it 
was filled and thronged with these beetles. They were lying torpid and motion¬ 
less in these retreats, sunk in their winter’s slumbers, although the weather 
was still mild and warm, nor did they awaken to activity even when uncovered 
and exposed to the rays of the sun. 
Early in May, soon after the season for cutting the asparagus for market 
has begun, these beetles come forth from their winter quarters and commence 
feeding upon it, gnawing and marring it, and scattering their eggs upon it. 
The eggs, represented in the annexed cut at b and magnified at c, arc of a 
blackish brown color and of an oval-oblong shape, like a grain of wheat, 
though not an eighth as large. They are attached to any part of the young 
plants, but after these have grown up to stalks the eggs are lor the most 
part placed upon the leaves and near the end of the slender branches 
