The asparagus beetles . t and Ch THE ASPARAGUS By F. H. Chittexdex, ief of 1908 # Entomologist in Charge of Breeding Experiments. INTRODUCTORY. SERVICE Asparagus was introduced into this country with the early settlersfrom Europe, and is creditedwith haying been cultivatedhere for two hundred yearsbefore being troubled withinsects. Several species of nativeAmerican insects have beenobserved to feed upon thisplant, but none, so far as weknow, has become sufficientlyattached to it to cause se-rious injury. Few of ouredible plants, in short, downto the time of the civil warhave
The asparagus beetles . t and Ch THE ASPARAGUS By F. H. Chittexdex, ief of 1908 # Entomologist in Charge of Breeding Experiments. INTRODUCTORY. SERVICE Asparagus was introduced into this country with the early settlersfrom Europe, and is creditedwith haying been cultivatedhere for two hundred yearsbefore being troubled withinsects. Several species of nativeAmerican insects have beenobserved to feed upon thisplant, but none, so far as weknow, has become sufficientlyattached to it to cause se-rious injury. Few of ouredible plants, in short, downto the time of the civil warhave enjoyed such immunityfrom the ravages of insects. In the Old World two in-sects, called asparagus bee-tles, have been known asenemies of the asparagussince early times. In theyear 1862 one of these insects,the common asparagus beetle(Crioceris asparagi L.) wasthe occasion of considerablealarm on asparagus farms inQueens County. X. Y., whereit threatened to destroy this,one of the most valuable crops grown on Long Island. Fig. 1.—Spray of asparagus, with common as-paragus beetle in its different stages : aspara-gus tip at right, showing eggs and size (authors illustration). Subsequent a Other accounts of these insects have been published in earlier years, asfollows: Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. f. 1S96 (1S97), pp. 341-352: Bui. 10, U. S. Dept. Agric, pp. 54-59, 189S; Bui. 66, Pt. I, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept=Agric, pp. 5-10, 1907. 39342—Cir. 102—08 inquiry developed the fact that the species had begun its destructivework at Astoria, near Xew York City, in I860, where, it is nowconceded, it was introduced about In 1881 another European importation was detected on asparagusnear Baltimore, Md.—the twelve-spotted asparagus beetle (Criocerisduodecimpunctata L.), sometimes called the red asparagus beetleto distinguish it from the blue
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