INSECTS WHICH. PEEY UPON AGRICULTURAL PLANTS. 107 



emerge in autumn, when they may be found on heaths, firs, 

 9nd oaks : they appear as early as May on the white thorn. 

 The females are black but covered with a greyish down ; the 

 males are of a dark bluish tint. The wing cases have punctured 

 furrows down them, the spaces between being flat ; the first joint 

 of the horns reddish at the base. The peak is stout, thick, and 

 curved downwards ; large prominent eyes. They fly well, even 

 when the sun is not shining. 



Sitmia lineata (the Striped Pea Wee\dl). — This Weevil 

 eommits great ravages among peas, both field and garden, eating 

 the leaves and tender tops of the plants. When feeding it 

 stands on the edges and these soon appear notched like a saw. 

 It delights in bright sunshine, and is very difficult to catch, 

 dropping off to the ground whenever any one makes his appear- 

 ance. It appears in April, and is supposed to hybernate. It is 

 not known where the female lavs her ef?<2rs or where the larvse 

 feed, though it is supposed that the gaUs on the roots of beans 

 and clover contain them, and that the eggs must be laid in 

 summer or autumn. The beetles are found on broom or furze 

 in early spring, and attack peas, beans, lucerne, clover, &c., till 

 autumn. A dusting of soot, ashes, or lime, when the plants are 

 wet, would render them unpalatable, but would not otherwise 

 affect the insects. The beetle is of an ochreous grey colour, 

 having in some lights a coppery tint, and provided with a blunt 

 notched snout. There are three ochreous lines of scales down 

 the thorax, and ten punctured striai down the elytra, of a light 

 and dark clay colour alternately. The legs are reddish, and 

 two ample wings are folded beneath the elytra, though they 

 seldom fly : length one-fourth of an inch. 



Sitoim crinita (the Spotted Pea Weevil). — This insect is very 

 similar both in economy and appearance to the last. It is shining 

 black, but covered with short greyish hairs, and with four dark 

 stripes on the thorax : the elytra are rough with short bristles 

 behind, and the interstices of the strite are irregularly s])otted 

 with black : the legs are ferruginous. It is a little smaller in 

 size than the preceding one, and it attacks the same plants. 



CcutorhynchiLS sulcicollis (the Turnip Gall Weevil). — If the 

 little knobs which are sometimes seen growing on the sides of 

 turnips be opened, they will be found to contain the grub of 

 this weevil. The female punctures the rind of the young grow- 

 ing turni]) and deposits an egg, which hatches into a whitish or 

 flesh-coloured maggot. The gall grows over the wounded ])art 

 from the irritation, caused probably by an injected lluid. This 

 maggot becomes a ])upa in the earth, and eventually a small 

 weevil of a shining black colour, and about one eighth of an inch 

 long. It is very similar to the next insect, — tlie turnip seed 

 weevil, — but is smaller and black, the latter being grey, and all 



