13 



seeds in the open pods before harvest but have tailed to 

 ^et the beetles to oviposit on the growing pods. The life 

 history described by Fletcher is, therefore, not that of a free- 

 living form. There is a free-living Bruchid which is common 

 in Mysore on red gram in the field and wEose larva? are pro- 

 vided with legs and thoracic arjuature of the description 

 given by Fletcher. The life history described by him, in all 

 probability, is of this species. This form is. however, 

 unable to multiply in the store as has been found by 

 experiment. 



Habits of Beetles. 



The adults appear to take no food during their life. 

 Beetles emerged on the s^nie date died nearly about the 

 same time whether they were provided with seeds or not. 

 Nor were any markings visible on the seeds even though a 

 fine powder was found deposited in the dishes in which 

 beetles were kept along with seeds. Dissection showed 

 the alimentary canal empty, except for a little white stuf! 

 near the origin of the malphigian tubes, evidently the ex- 

 cretion from the latter. 



Beetles may copulate and lay eggs soon after emergence. 

 The eggs are usually laid in the upper layer of seeds only. 

 When the topmost layer of seed is so riddled and excavated 

 that there is no more food for the larva, the beetles proceed 

 to the layer next below which is less injured, so that, on exa- 

 mining a lot of infested pulses long kept in store, the percent- 

 age of injured seeds is found to diminish gradually the further 

 they are below the top surface. It is clear, therefore, that 

 beetles always come up to the top, wherever they happen to 

 emerge in the receptacle. They generally remain there with- 

 out flying away if they are not disturbed. Usually, however, 

 when the store is opened they appear to be disturbed and a 

 number escape. This disturbance results apparently from 

 the difference in temperature, for it is higher in an infested 

 store than outside. When no lid is provided for the re- 

 ceptacle, most of the emerging beetles may remain on the 

 top without flying away. 



The instinct of the beetles to seek the top surface on 

 emergence is of great advantage. The initial infestation at 

 the time of storing is only of a few seeds. It follows that 

 the few beetles emerging in different places in the receptacle 

 separated by several hundreds of seeds, cannot find one 

 another for purposes of copulation unless they all reach 

 a common place. Secondly, even if they happen to meet 



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