244 



OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS. 



clover, belonging to quite a different natural family. 

 The laurels appear, in general, to attract them most. 



BRUCHUS GRANARIUS.* 



Jan. 10, 1827. A PERSON brought me to-day from 

 a farm at Upwell, on the borders of Norfolk and 

 Cambridgeshire, several specimens of the Bruchus 

 granarius, which had been making great havoc 

 among the beans in that neighbourhood. At what 

 exact time the attack commenced, and how long the 

 mischief had been going on, is uncertain, as the evil 

 was not perceived till the farmers began thrashing 

 out their beans, which had been stacked the preced- 

 ing harvest. It then appeared that more than one- 

 half of the crop had been entirely destroyed by these 

 insects, which had eaten into the heart of the kernel.f 

 Some of these beans I examined, and found to con- 

 sist of little else than the mere outward husk, with a 

 circular hole on one side, through which the insect, 

 after having devoured the contents, had made its 

 escape. In some cases the insects were still within, 

 and were observed coiled up, immediately beneath 

 the outer coat of the seed. I presume the mischief 

 in this instance was principally effected by the grubs 

 or larvse of these insects, which had been bred in the 

 beans from eggs originally deposited there by the 

 parent ; and this is according to what I find stated 



* Steph. Man. p. 266. 



f According to Kirby and Spence, (vol. i. 1st edit. p. 175,) 

 the mischief caused by the Bruchus in this country is seldom very 

 serious ; it was decidedly so, however, in the above instance. 



