1Y^ [October, 



Experiments with Bruchus-infesied beans. — Having received, in the early part 

 of the present year, a packet of seed beans, a large proportion of which were infested 

 by JBruchus rtifimanns, I determined to sow a quantity of the damaged seed in order 

 to ascertain the true extent of the mischief wrought by the beetles. I therefore 

 selected twenty beans, three of which had each been perforated by three weevils, 

 five by two, and twelve by one only, and sowed them under the most favourable 

 conditions for their growth and general welfare. In about a fortnight the young 

 plants appeared, seemingly in no way the worse for the injury received by the seed. 

 The growth was strong and vigorous, and the condition of the plants all that could 

 be desired. When the time for fruition came round, however, a great change took 

 place. The blossoms were scanty and small, the foliage faded and withered, and in 

 several cases the plants died off without producing a single pod. 



The first three plants, or those raised from seed pierced by three weevils, were 

 naturally the least productive. One of these was altogether barren, while the re- 

 maining two bore but three pods between them, none of which arrived at perfection. 

 The next five, grown from seed tenanted by two beetles only, were slightly more 

 fruitful, bearing in all six pods, of which five reached their full growth. Two of 

 these five plants, however, were barren. Upon the remaining twelve, the seed of 

 which had but one perforation, I counted twenty-three pods, not more than ten 

 of which arrived at maturity. Only one plant of this latter group was entirely un- 

 fruitful. It will thus be seen that the twenty plants bore among them but thirty- 

 two pods in all, of which less than one-half came to perfection. The bean in 

 question, I should mention, was not one of the most freely-bearing varieties, six pods 

 being the average yield of each plant. The difference, however, between the pro- 

 duce of the infested seed and of that, sown at the same time, which was free from 

 the weevil, proved beyond question that the presence of the beetle is highly preju- 

 dical, not to the germinating qualities of the seed, which appear to be uninjured, but 

 to the reproductive capabilities of the adult plant. 



A striking feature in connection w4th the above experiment was that the plants 

 raised from weevilled seed, with one single exception, altogether escaped the attacks 

 of Aphis rumicis, from which scarcely anotlier plant in the garden was free. From 

 this I infer that the sap of the weakened plants was of too deteriorated a character 

 to satisfy the fastidious taetes of the" colliers." — Theodoee Wood, Freeman Lodge, 

 St. Peter's, Kent : August 2.1st, 1885. 



Further note upon Adelops Wollasioni and Anommatus 12-striatus. — Since my 

 previous note upon the subject (Ent. Mo. Mag., xxi, 256), I have met with these 

 two insects in some abundance, by searching the decaying remains of seed potatoes 

 when the plants were taken from the ground. Adelops was by far the more plenti- 

 ful, as between July 15th and August 1st I took above one hundred specimens, while 

 Anommatus was represented by sixteen examples only. Absence of sight seems but 

 a very small deprivation to the former species, which runs with great swiftness, and 

 eludes the various obstacles in its path with perfect ease. How it does so I could 

 not ascertain, but, although I made repeated experiments on the subject, I never 

 once saw it come into contact with the needles, &c., which i placed immediately in 

 front of it. Anommatus is far more sluggish, and is easily overlooked in the semi- 



