90 BOARD OF AGEICULTURE. 



only a few occur in a bean it will doubtless grow ; but when 

 the substance of the bean is destroyed, even though the 

 "embryo remain intact, the bean either will not grow, or will 

 produce only a feeble plant. 



While the larvae are growing in the beans they are quite 

 liable to be overlooked, and are, undoubtedly, cooked and 

 eaten with them without our knowledge ; but before they 

 complete their transformations, they cut a circular hole out 

 to the shell of the bean, and after the final changes they are 

 easily seen in white or light-colored beans. Some of these 

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

 therefore, the beans intended for seed should be tightly tied 

 up in stout paper bags, so that the beetles cannot escape, 

 and kept over till the second year, when all the beetles will 

 be dead. If the beans are badly infested, they should not 

 be used for seed. 



The Pea-weevil. 



This species {Brachus pisi, L.), Fig. 12, is also a native 

 of this country, and is now widely distributed over the 

 world. The beetles begin to appear as soon as the peas are 



in blossom, and when the young 

 pods form the female beetle de- 

 posits her eggs upon the outside 

 of them, without any attempt to 

 pierce the pod. These eggs are 

 of a deep yellow color, about 

 three-hundredths of an inch long, 

 one-third as thick and somewhat 

 ovoid in form. They are fastened 



a, pea-weevil, enlarged and natural size ; 



t, an infested pea. to the pod by a fluid, which is 



white when dry, and glistens like silk. The work of deposit- 

 ing the eggs is accomplished mostly by night. The newly- 

 hatched larva is deep yellow and has a black head. It makes 

 a direct cut through the pod into the nearest pea, the hole 

 soon filhng up, leaving only a mere speck. The larva feeds 

 until it reaches its full growth, generally avoiding the embrj'^o 

 or germ ; then, with an apparent knowledge of its future 

 needs, eats out a circular hole on one side of the pea, leaving 

 only the thin shell covering the hole. 



As only a single weevil infests a pea, and this one does 



