27 



I can account for this only on the supposition that at the time of the treatment 

 some of the weevils had not advanced in their development as far as the rest, and 

 that there was less of the inner part of the pea consumed, and that, consequently, 

 the thicker covering protected the weevil from the action of the carbon bi- 

 sulphide." 



The weevils usually die soon after the laying of the eggs on the 

 young pods, but the exact duration of the life of an adult weevil, so 

 far as we are aware, has never been definitely ascertained. It may be 

 that the weevil lives some weeks after the deposition of the eggs. 



A somewhat remarkable occurrence of live weevils in peas is told 

 us by a reliable observer. A shipment of peas was fumigated in 

 Ontario, shipped to England, and stored in a seed ware-house. For 

 some reason or other, these peas were left undisturbed for nearly two 

 years ; and in the handling of the peas, a few live weevils were found. 

 This case is, of course, abnormal, and simply means that some weevils 

 may survive after two years of torpor, induced by cold ; but it also 

 shows that pea dealers should be exceedingly careful in their ship- 

 ments, lest some of the live weevils be carried to new districts. 



Escape of the Weevils. -The time of escape of the weevils 

 from the peas is, unfortunately, so variable and irregular, that it may 

 be said with a great deal of truth that they keep on escaping in 

 July, August and September, and from early April to the beginning 

 of June. 



It would be a comparatively simple matter to kill the great 

 majority of the weevils with carbon bisulphide, as explained, if they 

 always remained long enough in the peas to allow for the unavoid- 

 able delays in harvesting the crop, threshing the peas, and treating 

 the seed. Some of the weevils may escape, however, before the peas 

 are even harvested. The peas grown on the College Farm, in 1901, 

 were threshed in the field with the College separator on the 15th day 

 of August. The pea crop had not been stacked, but was threshed 

 directly from the land and as soon as it was properly cured ; and 

 even at that early date, some of the weevils had escaped from the 

 peas. The unevenness in the development of the weevils in the indi- 

 vidual peas of the same crop is likely due lo the unevenness in the 

 blossoming of the peas in the different parts of the same field, in the 

 individual plants growing side by side, and in the diff'erent parts of 

 the same plants. Saveral repeated examinations have shown that 

 peas grown on even a small plot in the experimental department and 

 fumigated immediately after they were harvested contained weevils 

 in almost ever}'- possible stage of development. To illustrate this 

 fact, the Marrowfat variety has been selected. Two hundred average 

 peas grown and treated in each of four years have been care- 

 fully examined. In order to represent the results obtained, four 

 stages in the development of the weevils were selected as the basis of 

 classification. The classification, therefore, is represented as follows : 

 1. Larva, one-eighth grown; 2. Larva, one-half grown; 3. Pupa; 

 and 4. Adult Beetle, escaped. Every weevil in the peas was placed 



