27 



of au incli loug, oval, and is constructed of a loose mesh of a brownish 

 silky or glutinous material. 



I hope another year to get additional material and complete the 

 study of the biology of this interesting insect or that this fragmen 

 tary account of it may lead others more favorably situated to supply 

 the facts now lacking in relation to the later larval stages and hiberna- 

 tion. 



Prompt application of the arsenicals will doubtless be an effective 

 remedy for this insect, though judging from analogy, hellebore will 

 also prove eftective, and, other things being equal, preferable. 



ON THE NOMENCLATURE AND ON THE OVIPOSITION OF THE 

 BEAN WEEVIL. 



(Britdnis ohtectus Say.) 



In double number 9 and 10 of the last volume of Insect Life (pp. 

 297 to 302) we published editorially a popular article upon the Bean 

 and Pea Weevils, referring to the former under our old name of Bru- 

 chus fabw Eiley, promising, however, in a foot-note to discuss the ques- 

 tion of synonymy in a succeeding number of this x>nblication. 



At the time (1S70) when we originally proposed the new name of 

 Bnichus fah(v in our Third Report on the Insects of Missouri (p. 55) we 

 paid considerable attention to the matter of its validity as a species. 

 Up to that time the weevil bred commonly from cultivated beans had 

 been considered by most coleopterists, following the authority of Dr. 

 George H. Horn, to be identical witli Say's Bruchu.s ohsoletus. We 

 showed that it differed from ohsoJetus in the following points: 



Obsoletus is a smaller species, dark gray, with tlie autenn;e all dark, the pygidium 

 uot rufous, rhe thorax with a perceptibly darker dorsal shade so that the sides ap- 

 pear more cinereous, a white scutel, and each interstitial line of the elytra with a 

 slight appearance of alternating whitish and dusky along its whole length ; for 

 though there is nothing in Say's language to indicate whether it is the interstitial 

 lines that alternate transversely, whitish and dnsky, or each line that so alternates 

 longitudinally, I find from an examination of a specimen in the Walsh collection 

 that the latter is the case, and so much so that the insect almost appears speckled. 

 The two species differ both in size and color, though, as Say's description is short 

 and imperfect, it is not surprising that fab(P should have been referred to it. 



Prior to the time of our description the Bean Weevil had been for 

 several years labeled in eastern insect collections ^^ Bruchus faba',^'' and 

 this name was disseminated by F. G. Sanborn and credited to Fabri- 

 cius. We could iind no ncrtice of the species in any of the writings of 

 Fabricius and for that reason adopted the eminently appropriate name 

 fah(c for our own. 



In 1872 we were informed that Dr. Fitch had described the Bean 



