192 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 
THE PEA WEEVIL OR “PEA BUG’ 
(Bruchus pist, L.). 
Attack,—A. small, brownish gray, very 
active beetle, + of an inchlong, with two cons- 
picuous black spots on the end of the body, 
which emerges from seed pease in autumn 
or in spring, leaving a small round hole. 
This insect is generally spoken of under the 
incorrect name of “pea bug,” and infested 
pease, as ‘‘buggy” pease. The egg is laid 
on the outside of the young pod, and the 
~, grub, on hatching, eats its way in and pene- 
=~ trates the nearest pea. Here it remains 
Fig. 2.—The Pea Weevil—natural size and enlarged. until full-grown, consuming the interior of 
the pea and passing through all its stages from a white fleshy grub to the chrysalis and 
then to the perfect beetle. Some of the beetles, the percentage varying with the season, 
escape froin the pease in the autumn and pass the winter hidden away under rubbish or 
about barns and other buildings. The greater number, however, do not leave the pease 
until the following spring, so that they are frequently sown with the seed. 
The perfect insects fly easily and resort to the pea fields about the time the blos- 
soms appear. They have been observed feeding upon the leaves and flowers of the 
pea vines before the pods were formed, but the injury so done is inappreciable compared 
with the much greater loss from the injury to the seeds by the grubs. 
From the large numbers of beetles which I once found dead, after a severe winter, 
beneath the shingles of a barn, I am led to believe that, in those seasons when a large 
percentage of the beetles issue in the autumn, many are apt to be destroyed by severe 
cold. 
Frequent inquiries come in every year for information concerning the Pea Weevil 
and the best means of preventing its injuries. } 
During the past season, from such reports as have been received, it would appear 
that on the whole the Pea Weevil has not been quite so injurious as in former years. 
Some correspondents, however, report that the injury is still considerable. 
“ Picton, Prince Edward Co., Nov. 6—Our big pea houses report that the Weevil 
this year was not as bad as usual. Every effort is now made to destroy the Weevil by 
what is called “ bugging” the pease as soon as they are received from the farmers.”— 
[ Wellington Boulter. | 
The insect itself and its life history are now well known in the districts where it 
occurs ; and, if more care were taken to sow only uninfested pease or those which have 
been properly fumigated, there would be no difficulty in reducing very considerably the 
numbers of this pest, which every year affects so materially the value of the pea crop of 
the Dominion. There are vast areas in Canada where good seed pease can be grown as 
a paying crop, and where the Pea Weevil does not occur at all. The advantage of 
obtaining seed from these districts is obvious and has already been recognized by some 
of the large seed firms. In addition to this, the method usually adopted of killing the 
weevils, either as grubs or as perfect beetles inside the seed pease, by subjecting them 
to the fumes of bi-sulphide of carbon, is perfectly effective. Most of the seed houses at 
the present time treat their seed carefully and conscientiously, and the injury to the 
crop is now done chiefly by grubs from eggs laid by weevils which have either left the 
pease in the autumn and wintered over, or else from pease saved for seed in small quan- 
tities by farmers who took no steps to destroy the weevil before sowing time. 
Writing early in the present season, Mr. T. G. Raynor, of Rose Hall, Prince 
Edward Co., Ont., says :—“I do not think the pea weevil was nearly as bad in this 
county in 1896 as in previous years. Perhaps the season had something to do with it. 
