258 Forty-fourth Report on the State Museum 



Beans infested with weevil (presumably this species) were common 

 in the supplies furnished to the army in South Carolina, in 1863, 

 to the extent that the soldiers were in the habit of soaking them 

 and afterwards laying them out to dry in order to allow the beetles 



to escape.* 



Its Rapid Spread and its Distribution. 



The rapidity with which the attack of this insect spread over the 

 country, was somewhat remarkable. The ten years following its 

 earliest notice seems to have carried it over a large part of the 

 United States. When Prof. Riley wrote of it in 1870, it had already 

 become quite common in the State of New York; had appeared in 

 several of the New England States; it was known in New Jersey, and 

 it was distributed throughout Pennsylvania; it must also have been 

 carried with the army into several of the Southern States. Westward, 

 it had obtained a firm footing in Illinois in 1865; in 1869, it made its 

 first appearance in Missouri, in a locality near St. Louis; and in 1872, 

 it was detected in Kansas. Subsequently, it has continued its west- 

 ward progress, and in 1889 we have it reported from the Pacific 

 Coast, California, where it is believed to have been introduced during 

 the year 1887, in some " Golden wax" beans brought into the Carpen- 

 teria valley.f In the present year, it made its appearance in Colorado 

 (Cockerel, loc. cit.). 



It would be strange and unaccountable if it has not yet invaded 

 Canada, but no notice of its presence there is known to me, and upon 

 inquiry of Mr. Fletcher, Entomologist of the Experimental Farms, he 

 informs me that he has no knowledge of its occurrence in the 

 Dominion, nor has Mr. Saunders. 



As the beetle is of sluggish habits, and not addicted to flight, it is 

 believed that its distribution throughout the country is mainly by 

 means of infested beans. This is the explanation of its being so 

 often reported to us from various portions of the United States, as a 

 new pest of the bean, never before known in that particular locality. 

 Its distribution would doubtless be very materially limited if all 

 dealers would carefully examine each purchase of beans made from 

 other places, and at once subject infested stock to proper treatment. 



Its Occurrence in Other Countries. 

 In a Report entitled " Report on Insects Introduced by Means of 

 the International Exhibition," made by Dr. J. L. LeConte, Dr. Geo. H. 



* Riley: in Third Report on the Insects of Missouri, 1871, p. 52, and Fitch MS. 

 t Insect Life, v. i, 1889. p, 316. 



