ASPAKAGUS BEETLE. 
7 
suggested, and also that this should be in the month of June,—that is 
aftei the beetle has laid her eggs, and before the young brood from 
them have developed to the perfect stage. Also, where the standing 
trees which are attacked are young, it is advised that careful hands 
should go over them, and (during the month of March, and guided by 
the sliot-like holes in the bark) pare off the outer bark down to the 
depth at which the beetles are hybernating in tunnels. This remedy 
would cause little injury to the trees, but is not advised earlier than 
March, as the Ash is liable to the injury of the bark rending through 
frost, known as frost-bite. 
ASPARAGUS. 
Asparagus Beetle. Crioceris Asparagi , Linn. 
Asparagus Beetle, larva, and eggs (all magnified); lines show natural length of 
eggs and beetle. 
Specimens of the Asparagus Beetle, together with its eggs and 
grubs, were forwarded on the 14tli of June by Mr. R. Cooke, from 
Detling, Maidstone, with observations of the damage caused by the 
grub eating off the outer rind of the Asparagus. 
These beetles are about a quarter of an inch long, and of a blue- 
black or greenish colour, with ochrey coloured patches on the wing- 
cases. They lay dark-coloured spindle-shaped eggs on the shoots or 
unopened flower-buds of the Asparagus, these eggs being fastened by 
one end, sometimes in rows, but sometimes the egg may be found 
fixed by its end to another similarly fixed to a shoot. The grubs are 
of an olive or slaty colour, and do most mischief by feeding on the 
leaves and shoots during the fortnight’s time that their period of 
feeding lasts. They then go down into the ground, where they 
change to chrysalids, from which the beetles come up in about two 
