250 BOARD OF AGEICULTUEE. 



luscs, tlie}^ have been found at work upon the strawberrj- 

 plants in all the gardens examined." 



Though this species is not common ' with us, yet we have 

 other kinds which are more or less so, and which may ulti- 

 mately prove to be obnoxious. Yet it is not probable that 

 snails will ever be so abundant with us as in Europe, as our 

 climate is much dryer and hotter, snails needing a damp, 

 rainy climate in order to flourish vigorously. 



INSECTS INJURING THE BEAN. 



The Bean-iveevil. — In our article entitled "Injurious In- 

 sects New or Little Known," published in the Report of the 

 Board of Agriculture for 1870, we described and figured the 

 bean- weevil, which was then regarded as an imported species, 

 the European Beuchus granarius, and some account was 

 given of its habits. Afterwards in a short note published in 

 our First Annual Report (p. 22) , we stated that it was not an 

 importation, but a native species which for some years has 

 been known to be injuring the bean in New York and the 

 Middle States. It was mentioned under the unpublished or 

 manuscript name of Beuchus varicornis (Leconte) . The same 

 year Mr. Riley described it in his report on the injurious 

 insects of Missouri under the name of Beuchus fabce., and 

 states that it appeared about ten (1862) years ago in Rhode 

 Island, according to Mr. F. G. Sanborn, and is now known 

 to appear in Illinois and Missouri. 



How extremely injurious this weevil has been, and still 

 threatens to be, appears from both Mr. Riley's and my reports. 

 "We are sorry to add that this winter it is said to be very 

 abundant in seed-stores in Boston, and unless checked in its 

 course, a comparatively easy thing to do at this time, it will 

 rapidly spread all over the State, and do incalculable injury 

 to the bean crop. 



I am indebted to Mr. C. A. Putnam, of Salem, for numer- 

 ous living specimens of this weevil, with the beans from 

 which they were emerging, obtained by him at a seed-store 

 in Boston in February. We have figured in this report for 

 1870, the bean perforated by the grubs. It is easy to tell 

 by the little round dark spot on the outside of the bean, i. e. 

 the thin covering over the hole in which the weevil lies, 



