PEA AND BEAN WEEVILS. 107" 



verified and put in form, becomes the " scientific " 

 instruction of a later date. 



Returning now to the ravages of the Sitones, com- 

 monly known as " Pea and Bean Weevils," these may 

 be told by the semicircular scoops eaten out of the 

 leaves. We find these attacks the worst to the leaf- 

 age of young plants, especially when, from weather or 

 other circumstances, the plant is kept back, so that it 

 cannot grow away from them ; but the Weevils are to 

 be found in legions later in the year, and sweeping 

 these up, as they are to be found in the waggons when 

 Clover or Peas are being carried, would get rid of some 

 amount of coming attack. The main point we seem 

 to need here is to prevent the settlement of the 

 autumn brood of Beetles. These fly well, and have 

 been found to shelter themselves in the top joint of 

 Corn stubble, and from this they come out to set on 

 foot attack in Trifolium, or Clover, drilled after. Also 

 it has been noticed that where W^heat-sheaves stood 

 long in harvest-time, the Clover on these spots was 

 free from attack in the following spring, although 

 that on the rest of the field was attacked. Acting on 

 these observations, skimming the surface stubble, so as 

 to get rid of the shelter, has been considered useful ; 

 and a good liming, or other chemical dressing, much 

 of which would go into the stubble and make it a very 

 undesirable home for the Weevil, would help us. All 

 measures which will push on good growth are valuable 

 preventives in this case ; and in gardens it would pro- 

 bably do a deal of good to lay the drawn and useless 

 haulm along the rows, with any dry rubbish, and burn 

 it. It appears to be the nature of this Weevil to come 

 up, not to go down, on alarm ; and we might thus 

 clear out the parents of the next spring's attack. 



The small long-snouted *' Pear-shaped " Clover 

 Weevil, Apion apricans (see Fig. 81, p. 101), also does 

 much harm to Clover leafage; but in this case the grub 

 lives in the seed-head, and feeds on the young forming 

 seed; and the best known method of prevention is 



