930 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD EXTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



side. In colour tlie .eggs of afjinis are lighter than those of B. theobromcB 

 which have a slight tinge of yellow in them. It is difficult to follow the 

 life-history of these small beetles inside the pods or seeds but better 

 means for rearing may make it possible to find out the details of the life 

 stages of these beetles. 



It was only in 1917 that eggs of the wal Bruchid were isolated. This 

 Bruchid is different from any of the three identified Bruchids and it 

 lays its eggs in small masses of three to five eggs in each cluster and each 

 green pod may have from two to six such masses laid on it. The eggs 

 are white, of the same shape and colour as of B. afpnis. All the eggs 

 are capable of developing into fully-formed adults even although there 

 may be only three to five seeds in each pod. It is probably explained 

 by each seed being larger than most other pulse-seeds and capable of 

 sustaining more than one grub. As many as six of these beetles have 

 been bred from each seed. 



B. affinis is also in the habit of laying more eggs than the pods are 

 likely to contain seeds and although as many as seventeen eggs have been 

 counted on each pod the seeds inside always regulate the number of 

 beetles that would breed out of the pod. The rest probably die. 



Further breedings of the beetles in the laboratory have shown that 

 BnicJnis afjinis is not capable of breeding in dr_y seeds and that it has only 

 one generation in a year. The other two Bruchids, B. theobromw and the 

 uml Bruchifl, do breed successfully to the total destruction of dry seeds 

 in the store. 



At the time these investigations were carried out a fat grub of a beetle 

 was seen to breed in the pods of Crotalaria juncea. On breeding, it proved 

 to be a Bruchid of a new type as yet unidentified, of which specimens 

 are exhibited. This beetle passes through only a single generation in a 

 year and the eggs and larvae are found in green pods in plentiful numbers 

 to the total destruction of the seeds in them. The larvae have the habit 

 of spinning a tortuous long silken cocoon inside the pods wherein they 

 pupate. The eggs are laid, one on each pod, just in the manner of 

 other Bruchids. 



The recognition of the fact that many of our common Brucliids are 

 found breeding in the field brings us a little nearer to the solution of the 

 problems of control-measures. It is helpful at least to know that mere 

 care to exclude external infection is not in itself sufficient to prevent 

 destruction of pulse-seeds and it may therefore be necessary to fumigate 

 the seed directly after harvest. 



Unless the pods in the field dry and open up, the Bruchids do not 

 breed on them. 



