476 



any differences among the brnchid eggs deposited on tlie surface 

 of the Prosopis pods, some of the pods were examined for 

 openings and in the syrupy pulp of the pods were found some 

 eggs resemhhiig those of B. ohtectus, eight or ten in a phice 

 which had been deposited through accidental openings through 

 the cuticle and fibrous layer of the pod. Upon placing pods of 

 Prosopis, in which similar holes had been made, with several 

 individuals of B. prosopis among which w^ere known to be 

 females ready for oviposition, within fifteen minutes three 

 females were observed with their ovipositors inserted through 

 the artificial openings and eggs similar to those previously 

 observed were found there. Accidental openings for oviposi- 

 tion can hardly ever fail to occur in sufficient numbers on 

 account of the suspension of the pods on the spinose tree and 

 their consequent swinging about in the wind against the 

 branches and spines. Much breakage and penetration of the 

 skin must also take place in falling. The cuticle also tends to 

 flake away when the pod is ripe, giving the female a chance 

 to oviposit under flaps of cuticle, and eggs are sometimes 

 placed there. 



Spermophagus sp. 



Among some beans assembled by Director Westgate of 

 the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station for some ex- 

 perimental work on the prevention of Bruchus injury were 

 some lots purchased in the open market. A bruchid bred 

 from these was found to be a species of Spermophagus not 

 hitherto observed here. It is a smaller species than the 

 American bean-weevil and shorter and more compact. In 

 the female there is visible to the naked eye a transverse whitish 

 spot on each elytron near the middle, while the male appears 

 uniformly gray above. The body is black and the antennae 

 slender in both sexes, about three-fourths as long as the head 

 and body together and black except for the two basal joints, 

 which are rufous. Examination of beans grown on the Station 

 grounds showed that they too were infested by the same weevil. 



