29 



We appeud for wider circulation a copy of Fitch's publislied letter 

 previously referred to. 



W. R. Staples: 



Secretary of the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry: 



Dear Sir: Whoever inspects beans infested with the insect which you send me 

 will at once infer that this depredator is closely akin to the well-known Pea-bug, or 

 Pea weevil, as it might better be called — the i?}-Hc/(Msj)isJ of Linnaeus — the beans be- 

 ing perforated with hirge round holes, similar to those in the pea, where the insect 

 has escaped, or presenting a discolored spot, under which is around cavity, in which 

 the creature is still lying; the only important difference being, that as the bean is a 

 much larger fruit, several holes, usually as many as six and sometimes twelve, are 

 bored in it, instead of the single hole which we see in peas. And on inspecting this 

 insect, I find it to be a weevil so similar in its general appearance to that of the pea 

 that persons who have not made this class of animals a special study would probably 

 infer it to be the very same insect, somewhat modified in consequence of its being 

 reared upon slightly different food. But on close inspection, it will be found to dif- 

 fer essentially from that insect, in many points of its structure and colors. 



From the examination I am at present to make, I do not recognize this as a species 

 that has been heretofore described. I infer it has but recently been noticed in your 

 vicinity, and it would hence appear to have been introduced, probably, from some 

 foreign country. It, however, is unlike the Bruchus rufimanus and (jranarius com- 

 mon insects in Southern Europe, which prey upon beans in this same manner. In 

 addition to these, I see a Brazilian species has been named B. phaseoli by M. Chevro- 

 lat, a name implying it to subsist on the bean, but I have not the work of this author 

 at hand. Upon a kind of wild beau growing in Indiana, Mr. Say met with a beetle 

 which he names B. obscurus, which appears to approach nearer to this insect than 

 does any other species to which I can refer. Under the circumstances, the best serv- 

 ice I can render will be to present a name for this insect, with such a description of 

 it as will serve to plainly distinguish it, and thus open the way for future researches 

 to determine whether it really is a species which has lurked unnoticed in the world 

 until the present time. I would therefore name it the Bean-weevil {Bruchus f aha:). 

 It is slightly smaller than our pea- weevil, its length being from ■^^fls to -^^ of an 

 inch. It is of a black color, more or less densely coated over with tarnished yellow- 

 ish gray pubescence, and is particularly distinguished from other species by hav- 

 ing the four first and last joints of its antennae, and all its legs, of a rusty or jjale 

 dnll yellowish color, with only the under side of the hind thighs black. Along the 

 middle of its thorax is a faint whitish stripe, which has an impressed line at its 

 hind end. Its wing-covers have impressed lines or stritB, the interstices between 

 which are alternately of a faint whitish color, this color, being most clear and 

 distinct along the middle of the third interstice between two faint blackish spots, 

 which are placed on this interstice, a few other blackish spots being also percepti- 

 ble here and there, outside of this. The abdomen or hind body is i>ale dull yellow, 

 with a black band on the fore part of each joint, and its flattened tip, beyond the 

 ends of the wing-covers, is obscure grayish, with a faint whitish stripe along its 

 middle. On the under side of the hind thighs, near their end, is a little projecting 

 spine, like the point of a thorn, with a similar very minute one at its hind base, 

 followed by a more minute, -blunt-pointed one. 



Tlie habits and transformations of this insect will probably be found to vary but 

 little from those of the pea-weevil ; and the same remedies doubtless will be as effi- 

 cacious against the one as the other. It is generally known that the Pea-weevil 

 rarely injures the embryo or germ of the future sprout, and that " buggy peas" may 

 consequently be used for seed ; though the plants from them will probably be puny 

 and feeble during the first stages of their growth. This Bean- weevil is a more iuvet- 

 4388— No. 1 3 



