BRUCHUS GRANARIUS. 245 



in books : yet it is worthy of observation, that all the 

 beans which came under my inspection, as well 

 those which had the perfect insect still in, as those 

 from which it had escaped, had the same round hole 

 opening externally. This looks as if in some cases 

 the beetles had entered by this aperture ; since, if they 

 had been bred in the kernel, the holes, one would 

 think, would not have been made till the time of 

 their leaving the beans altogether.* 



It is to be regretted that the study of noxious 

 insects is not more attended to by practical agricul- 

 turists. It is often such persons alone who can sup- 

 ply the facts necessary for clearing up their history. 

 And the extent to which they suffer in their crops 

 from the attacks of different species in certain sea- 

 sons one might have supposed a sufficient motive for 

 undertaking the inquiry. Something has been done 

 of late years in this way ; but a vast deal more of 

 investigation is needed to put us in the way of suc- 

 cessfully counteracting these enemies, so as to pre- 

 vent the immense damage they occasion. They may 

 appear puny and insignificant when viewed singly ; 

 but, in their combined operations, they are often more 



* The most recent notice of this insect I am aware of is by 

 Mr. Walton, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 

 vol. xiii. p. 207. According to his statement, "the larva com- 

 pletes its metamorphosis within the seeds, consuming a consider- 

 able portion of the interior." It appears also that it sometimes 

 attacks peas. Mr. Marshall is said to have " observed in a barn 

 in Kent a quantity of peas infested with this beetle, which had 

 destroyed nearly half the crop ; in every pod that he opened he 

 found an insect, and the exterior part of the peas was more or less 

 consumed." 



