T2 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
and presented to the Farmers’ Club. In Europe it is said to be abund- 
ant as early as February, on flowers, and is a most destructive insect, 
the larvee feeding in seeds of peas and beans, frequently destroying 
more than half “the crop. The natural history of our pea-weevil, 
3. pisi, much resembling that of the imported B. granarius, is as fol: 
lows: The egg is deposited by the female in a puncture made on the 
outside of the young pod exactly opposite a seed. This is done chiefly 
during the night or in cloudy weather. The larve, when hatched, 
penetrate through the pod immediately into the pea beneath, and feed 
upon its interior. In the meantime the puncture made by 
the young larva, being so very minute, heals up, leaving 
scarcely a vestige of a scar. The pupa is formed in the 
autumn in the cavity of the pea, made by the larva having 
eaten out part of the interior, and when it arrives at maturity 
it makes its escape by gnawing a small bole through the rind 
of the seed, the larva having previously eaten its way to the 
.. inner surface, leaving only a thin pellicle. The Bruchus gra- 
narius in England is very destructive to the pea, and in gen- 
eral remains in the larva state until the following spring; 
but if the weather is very warm the perfect insect appears 
the preceding autumn. The larva has the curious instinct to leave the 
most vital parts of the seed to the last. The usual remedy is to steep 
the seed before planting, in very hot water, so as to kill the inclosed 
insect, taking care, however, not to injure the peas themselves. A cor- 
respondent in the American Entomologist recommends that the peas be 
put in bags and preserved until the second year, when ali the insects 
will have perished. Other insects belonging to the same family, B. 
varicornis, sinuatus, and obsoletus, are very “destructive to the field bean 
in this country, sometimes five to ten insects being found in one bean. 
Fig. 22. The rocts of the grape vine are frequently 
y much injured by two very large yellowish-white 
grubs, which Mr. Riley states are the larve of the 
large, long-horned, brownish beetles, Prionus 
imbricornis, (Linn.,) or the tile-horned prionus, 
and P. brevicornis, (Fab.,) P. laticollis, (Drury.) 
These larve cut for themselves cylindrical holes 
through the heart of the root, frequently leaving 
j only a thin shell of bark, and probably live in 
the larva state three years. They transform into 
pup in smooth oval chambers in the earth when 
in confinement, and in a state of nature probably 
change in the roots about the end of June. The 
pertect insect appears about three weeks after 
i the pupa is formed. P. imbricornis is said to 
feed on roots of Osage orange, corn-stalks, and decaying oak wood, as well 
as on grape vine; and Ve laticollis on decaying wood of apple, poplar, oak, 
roots of grape vine, pear, and Osage orange. No remedy has yet been 
proposed for their destruction, except to kill the perfect beetles wherever 
found. There is another insect which injures the roots of the grape 
vine, Aigeria polistiformis (Har.,) which somewhat resembles the last 
named insect in the larval state. (Agricultural Report, 1854, pl.6.) The 
larva of the Prionus, however, isa very large, yellow, footless grub, with 
a brownish head, while the Agerians can be readily recognized by their 
rounder form, smaller size, and the rudimentary legs on the under side 
of the seventh to the tenth segments of the body, taking the head as 
one segment. 
Vig. 21. 
