;>•! 



THIRD ANNUAL REIM)RT OF 



these spots are of a different color to the rest of the seed, generally 

 having a less opaque appearance, and often are of a duller tint; on 

 picking off this little lid, a cavity will be found beneath containing 

 either a maggot, pupa, or beetle." 



THE AMERICAN BEAN-WEEVIL-i? rucUs fabce, N. sp. 

 This is another BrucJius which bids fair to out-do the celebrated 



Tea-weevil 

 [Fig 



n its injurious work, and since it has but just made its 

 appearance in our State as a bean destroyer, 

 and is yet confined, so far as I am aware, to 

 one single locality, I hope that the following 

 account of it will have the effect to prevent 

 V its introduction into neighborhoods where it 

 is now unknown, and thus keep it from spread- 

 ing over the State. It appears to be a native 

 American insect and doubtless fed originally 

 on some kind of wild bean (PJiaseolus or Lathy rus,) but it was first 

 noticed in our cultivated beans about ten years ago, in Rhode Island, 

 and has since at different times suddenly made its appearance in sev- 

 eral other parts of the country. Maj. J. R. Muhleman, of Woodburn, 

 Ills., informs me that while in South Carolina in 1863, some kind of 

 weevil was often so common in the beans used by the army that be- 

 fore using such beans the men had to soak them, and afterwards lay 

 them out to dry, in order to allow the beetles to escape. The weevil 

 was doubtless the species under consideration, but there is no means- 

 of ascertaining from which part of the country the beans came. 



Though already pretty well distributed in some of the Eastern 

 States, especially in New York, it appears to be yet confined to cer- 

 tain localities in the Mississippi Valley. It has for instance, been 

 quite troublesome of late years in Madison county, Ills., for I re- 

 ceived last spring numerous specimens from Mr. Geo. W. Copley, of 

 Alton, and am informed by Mr. J. F. Wielandy, of Jefferson City, Mo., 

 that his father who is a resident of that county has been much troub- 

 led with it; yet it has never been heard of in other parts of the State. 

 The only place in which I have, so far, found it in Missouri, is around 

 Eureka, in St. Louis county, where it was first noticed in 1869, but 

 where it occurred the present year in great numbers in two different 

 fields of a white pole bean. It occurs in some parts of Pennsylvania, 

 and is quite common in New York, and to illustrate the amount of 

 damage it is capable of doing, I make room for the following letter^ 

 which was received in November, 1870, from Mr. James Angus, of 

 West Farms, N. Y., and which refers to this insect: 



I enclose you a sample of beans to show you how thoroughly and 

 effectually this little vagabond is plying his time immemorial avoca- 

 tions in the bean-patches in this quarter. Five or six years ago I had 

 occasion to call on a neighbor, and in passing through the barn he 



