14 



escape. A good plan is to tie the peas in tight bags and hang them 

 in an airy place till Christmas, and then, in order that they may not 

 become too dry, put them in tighter vessels. The best way is to 

 plant only sound peas. 



THE BEAN WEEVIL. 



Bruchus ohsolelus Say. 



Fig. 6. 



The general color of this weevil. Fig. 6, natural size, and enlarged 

 at a, is tawny gray marked more or less with dull yellow, and it is 

 less than a fourth of an inch long. Sometimes over a dozen are 

 found in a single bean. Fig. 6, 6. The female lays her eggs on the 

 outside of the young pods, and as soon as they hatch, the young 

 larvae, or grubs, bore through the pods and into Uie beans. They 

 rarely injure the germ, and the beans will doubtless grow when only 

 a few occur in a bean ; but when the substance of the bean is 

 destroyed, even though the germ is not touched, the bean either will 

 not grow, or will produce only a feeble plant. 



Before the larvae are transformed into beetles, they cut a circular 

 hole out to the shell of the bean and can be easily seen in white or 

 light-colored beans, after the final changes. Some of the beetles 

 emerge in the fall, and the remainder in the spring ; therefore the 

 beans intended for seed should be lightly tied up in stout paper bags, 

 so that the beetles cannot escape, and kept over till the second year 

 when they will all be dead. It is better, however, to plant sound 

 seeds only, and destroy all that contain the weevils. 



THE MAY BEETLE. 



Lachnosterna fusca (Frohl.) 

 This insect. Fig. 7, 1, pupa ; 2, larva ; 3 and 4, the beetle, is common- 

 ly known as the May-beetle, June-beetle, dor-bug, etc. and is very 

 common, making its appearance early in May or June. The body is 



