392 



that perhaps we are more deeply indebted than we have been aware to 

 ants for destroying those larvpe which inhabit the giound. 



It will be noticed that the above observations in respect to the pupa- 

 tion of the white grub agree with the very interesting account given by 

 Prof. S. A. Forbes in his last report, and as the localities are quite 

 widely separated it is of interest to note the entire agreement of the 

 results. In Vermont, as in Illinois, the species of Lachnosterna pupate 

 and come out as beetles in the early fall, a few to emerge at once from 

 the earth, and to remain not dormant, but apparently as active as usual^ 

 in the ground until, in this region, about the 1st of May, when they 

 begin to come from their hiding place. 



THE FIRST LARVAL STAGE OF THE PEA WEEVIL. 



In our last number we published a short popular article upon the 

 Bean and Pea Weevils, calling attention for the first time to a most 

 interesting post-embryonic larval stage of the Bean Weevil, in which 

 the larva is possessed of false legs which serve its locomotive needs 

 until it has entered the bean, when, with a cast of the skin, they are 

 lost and the larva assumes the ordinary weevil form. At that time 

 material was not at hand to enable us to verify our suspicion that a 

 similar stage would be found in the larva of the Pea Weevil, but we 

 have recently received fresh pea-pods from the West which bore eggs 

 of Bruchns pisi, and we have found them in our own garden. 



The fact that the Pea Weevil deposits its egg on the outside of the 

 pod, fastening it thereto, has long been known, and we Lave found, as 

 we surmised would be the case, that the newly -hatched larva of this 

 species has the same characteristics as those we have described in the 

 case of the Bean Weevil. The only difference is that the temporary 

 legs are much shorter and stouter, though similarly constructed, the 

 tarsus proper being a mere spatulate pad. A further difierence exists 

 in that the spurs on the prothoracic segments are more elaborate and 

 conspicuous, consisting of six strong, retrorse spines, anteriorly pre- 

 ceded by two more prominent plates also pointing posteriorly and 

 strongly toothed along their exterior border. There are no anal spurs 

 or spines. An interesting fact connected with this larva is, that while 

 ordinarily entering the pea direct from the amber-colored egg^ as pre- 

 viously recorded, it sometimes enters the pod in the neig^hborhood of 

 the egg and then mines along the inside of the pod for some dis- 

 tance, being quite active and moving rapidly and with ease. This 

 doubtless occurs wherever the egg hatches before the peas are suffi- 

 ciently developed, the larva living as a miner until the pea is nearly 

 full grown, and the entrance of the larva into a pea in such case would 

 seem to be rather by chance than by design. As in the case of the 

 Bean Weevil, however, the larva molts and loses its legs and other 

 post-embryonic characters as soon as it has entered the pea. 



