Reports to various Correspondents. 25 



the females deposited but few eggs, wiuch are laid on grasses. The 

 eggs (Fig, 2, e) are of a very elongated oval form, creamy-white in 

 colour, the upper surfiice has a reticulate sculpturing of hexagonal 

 depressions arranged in longitudinal rows ; ventrally the surface is 

 unadorned, but has a wide ventral groove. 

 They are exactly 1 nnu. long. 



ANIMALS IXJUPJOL'S TO PULSE. 

 The Pea Beetle. 



(Brwhus pisl, L.) 



A letter asking for information regarding the cause of damage to 

 some peas was lianded to me by Mr. I'ocock from Mr. F. G. Atlalo, 

 of Teignmouth. The pest was tlie Pea Beetle. This beetle is well 

 known in Europe and America, and may be said to be cosmopolitan 

 in distribution. In America it is called the " Pea Bug." The beetle 

 is a small grayish-brown insect about one-fifth of an inch long, with 

 two very conspicuous black spots on the end of the body. These 

 beetles emerge from the peas in late autumn and spring. Those that 

 ■emerge in the autumn hibernate under rubbish, in outhouses, barns, 

 etc. The majority seem to pass the winter in the peas. As soon as 

 genial spring weather occurs they become very active and fly to the 

 fields. If the peas are up they feed first on the leaves, and in that 

 way in Canada they have been noticed to do some damage. The real 

 harm is caused by the larvie, however. The beetles lay their eggs 

 on the young pods, and the larvae — white footless maggots — pene- 

 trate into the pods and then enter the nearest peas. There they live 

 and mature, pupating in the autumn or winter, and the adult beetles 

 escape from the peas, leaving behind a large round hole. j\Iany 

 iDeetles have not escaped by the time the peas are sown. It is general 

 in shops and granaries, but most of the instances coming to my 

 notice where it has been a very harmful pest have been traced to 

 foreign importation. Fowler records it as feeding on Sisymbrium at 

 Stretford, near Manchester. 



Treatment consists of fumigating the peas with bisulplude of 

 carbon as soon after harvesting as possible, 1 o'/.. carbon bisulphide 

 to every 100 lbs. of seed. Place the seed in closed bins or any closed 

 chamber and put the bisulphide in a saucer on the top of the seed 

 and leave for forty-eight hours. The bisulphide is highly infiammable, 



