54 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



of each of these holes, and waiting apparently for an oppor- 

 tunity to come forth and make its escape. If we turn out the 

 creature from its cell, we perceive it to be a small oval beetle, 

 rather more than one tenth of an inch long, of a rusty black 

 color, with a white spot on the hinder part of the thorax, four 

 or five white dots behind the middle of each wing-cover, and 

 a white spot, shaped like the letter T, on the exposed extremity 

 of the body. This little insect is the Bruchus Pisi of Linnaeus, 

 the pea-Bruchus, or pea-weevil, but is better known in America 

 by the incorrect name of pea-bug. The original meaning of 

 the w^ord Bruchus is a devourer, and the insects to which it is 

 applied well deserve this name, for, in the larva state, they 

 devour the interior of seeds, often leaving but little more than 

 the hull untouched. They belong to a family of the great- 

 weevil tribe called Bruchidje, and are distinguished from other 

 weevils by the following characters. The body is oval, and* 

 slightly convex ; the head is bent downwards, so that the broad 

 muzzle, when the insects are not eating, rests upon the breast; 

 the antennae are short, sti'aight, and saw-toothed within, and 

 are inserted close to a deep notch in each of the eyes; the 

 feelers, though very small, are visible ; the wing-cases do not 

 cover the end of the abdomen; and the hindmost thighs are 

 very thick, and often notched or toothed on the under side, as 

 is the case in the pea-weevil. The habits of the Bruchians 

 and their larvae are similar to those of the pea-weevil, which 

 remain to be described. It may be well, however, to state 

 here that these beetles frequent the leguminous or pod-bearing 

 plants, such as the pea, Gleditsia, Robinia, Mimosa, Cassia, 

 &c., during and immediately after the flowering season ; they 

 wound the skin of the tender pods of these plants, and lay 

 their eggs singly in the wounds. Each of the little maggot- 

 like grubs, hatched therefrom, perforates the pod and enters a 

 seed, the pulp of which suffices for its food till fully grown. 



Few persons while indulging in the luxury of early green 

 pease are aware how many insects they unconsciously swallow. 

 "When the pods are carefully examined, small, discolored spots 

 may be seen within them, each one corresponding to a similar 

 spot on the opposite pea. If this spot in the pea be opened, a 



