51 



the pea weevil, and has much the same life history and 

 habits. Figure 8 shows this beetle enlarged at a with a 

 natural size figure near it, and an effected bean at h. The 



female beetle deposits her eggs 



in clusters, either in a slit or hole 



made with her jaws in the pod, or 



else in the split caused by the 



partial drying of the pod. The 



eggs are most abundantly found 



in fully developed or partially 



F\^2' ^'a ^^^" 1 k^^^'Ut ^ dried pods, where the seeds are 

 adult ; b, damaged bean. Nat- ^ ' 



ural size shown by smaller fully matured. The young larvae 

 figure. 



enter the beans, and make circular mines in them while 

 feeding upon their substance. Unlike the pea weevil, only 

 one of which is found in a single pea, the bean weevil may 

 occur in considerable numbers in a single bean. "When the 

 larvas are fully grown, they bore a hole to the outer skin of 

 the bean, and then turn to the pupa stage. When the adult 

 beetles emerge, they will deposit their eggs in the stored 

 grain, and thus multiply and damage the beans continually. 

 Hence when these insects once infest stored beans, it is 

 necessary to kill at once all the insects, or they will com- 

 pletely ruin them. The number of generations varies, and 

 thus one finds these insects in all stages in the stored beans. 

 The bean weevil is very troublesome in cow peas also. 



The Four- Spotted Bean Weevil. 

 [Bruchus 4 — Maculata.) 



The four-spotted bean weevil is a little larger than the 

 pea weevil, and can be distinguished from it by the presence 

 of four black spots on the wing covers. The habits and life 

 histories of this insect are similar to the bean weevil, and 

 therefore will not need describing here. The four-spotted 

 bean weevil is extremely troublesome and injurious to our 

 cow pea, perhaps even more so than any other weevil. I 



