BRUCHUS SP. ? 25 



the time comes for them to turn to chrysalids, and 

 thence to beetles. In the case of the common Broad- 

 bean Bruchus of England, the maggot gnaws a tunnel 

 to the outside of the bean, but does not gnaw a road 

 through the outer skin, so that the small round film of 

 skin remains as a covering to the gallery, and when the 

 time comes for the beetle to escape it just presses off 

 the lid, as it may be called, and creeps out. According 

 to circumstances, it may come out in heaps of granaried 

 seed, or in seed sown in the field, and in due season it 

 flies to the blossoms of the beans or peas, or other 

 plants, wild or cultivated, of bean or pea kind suitable 

 for the food of the maggots, and there it starts a new 

 attack. 



The infested beans, and also the maggots, forwarded 

 from Port Elizabeth, show a slight difference respectively 

 in method of attack, and in structure, to what has usually 

 been recorded. Instead of the maggot-tunnels ending as 

 soon as they came to the outside of the bean, I found 

 that they sometimes ran on just under the skin, so that 

 their shape and the blackish colour of the insects when 

 developed to the beetle state could be distinctly seen 

 through the thin transparent coat of the bean. Also 

 in some instances it appeared from the gnawings that 

 the maggot had made, or might have made, its entrance 

 into the seed from the outside. This point should be 

 ascertained by examination of pods on the plant ; but 

 so far as can be judged from the shape of the cavities, 

 and from the appearance of the opening outside the bean, 

 it appeared to have been entered as above mentioned. 



The habit of straying from one seed to another, when 

 the first locality is unsatisfactory, has been recorded in 

 the case of the Lentil Bruchus (B. lentis) from careful 

 observations by Heeger.* 



It appears from these that, when the original quarters 

 no longer suit them, the maggots wander away at 

 evening to seek another dwelling ; in still weather, it 

 is stated, " they let themselves fall to the ground, and 



* ' Praktische Insekten Kunde,' by Dr. E. L. Taschenberg, pt. ii. p. 267. 



