The Asparagus Beetles and Their Control Page: 3
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THE ASPARAGUS BEETLES AND THEIR CONTROL.
CONTENTS.
Page. Page.
The common asparagus beetle ............... 3 The common asparagus beetle--Continued.
General appearance of beetle and charac- Methods of control ..................... 9
ter of injury to plants ................. 3 The twelve-spotted asparagus beetle......... 11
Distribution and means of spread........ 5 Introduction and spread in the Umted
Ilabits and development ................ States.................. ............... 11
The life cycle ................ ........... 6 Description, seasonal history, and habits. 12
Natural checks........................ 7 Remedies............................. 13
LTHOUGH introduced into this country from Europe by the
-_ early settlers, asparagus is believed to have been cultivated
here for two centuries before it was troubled by insects. Sev-
eral species of native American insects, it is true, feed upon this
plant, but none, so far as we know, has become sufficiently attached
to it to cause serious injury. Few of our edible plants, indeed, down
to the time of the Civil War have enjoyed such immunity from insect
ravages.
In the Old World, however, two insects called asparagus behoetles
have been known as important enemies of this crop since early times.
One of these, known as the common asparagus beetle, was introduced
into Greater New York about 1860, while the other, the twelve-spotted
asparagus beetle, sometimes called the red asparagus beetle, to dis-
tinguish it from the blue or common species, was first discovered in this
country on asparagus in 1881 near Baltimore, Md. Both of these are
now firmly established and widely distributed in this country and
require special measures for their control.
THE COMMON ASPARAGUS BEETLE.'
GENERAL APPEARANCE OF BEETLE AND CHARACTER OF INJURY TO PLANTS.
The adult of the common asparagus beetle is a beautiful insect,
slender and graceful, blue black with red thorax and lemon-yellow
and dark-blue wing-covers having a reddish border. A common
form about the District of Columbia is illustrated in figure 1, a.
Farther north the prevailing form is darker, the lighter coloring some-
times showing only as a reddish border and six small submarginal
1 Crioccris asparagi L.; order Coleopter, family Chrysomelidae.
90162-B ll. 837-17 3
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Chittenden, F. H. (Frank Hurlbut), 1858-1929. The Asparagus Beetles and Their Control, pamphlet, 1917; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc96478/m1/3/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.