THE GRAIN WEEVIL. 253 



transparent lid, previously gnawn by the larva, which falls off 

 when the beetle emerges. The chrysalis is surrounded by a 

 thin cocoon-like case, consisting of the castings of the larva, 

 (which are long, cylindrical when highly magnified) closely 

 packed together. 



Though most of the pupee had, November 25, changed to bee- 

 tles, which had deserted the beans, many had not changed, and. 

 two or three out of the whole lot were in the semi-pupa state, 

 the head and posterior part of the body being unchanged. By 

 this we could determine that the larva closely resembled the 

 larva of the true weevils in form. It is a short, thick, fleshy, 

 cylindrical, footless white grub. The tip of its abdomen is 

 rather blunt. Its head is rather small, white, with a pale yel- 

 lowish clypeus, while the mandibles are flat, short and broad, 

 and red in color. The rudimentary antennae form a flattened 

 round area on each side of the clypeus. The segments of the 

 body are not convex, being rather flattened, but the sutures are 

 slightly impressed. The body is a little flattened beneath, and 

 very convex above, while the lateral, or pleural, region of the 

 body is well marked. Length .16 ; thickness, .07 of an inch. 



Curtis (Farm Insects, p. 361) states that this insect has been 

 known in England to destroy half the pea and bean crop, often 

 abounding at the end of May and sometimes continuing as late 

 as August. 



The best remedy against its attacks is to carefully examine 

 the beans in the autumn and before sowing time, when their 

 presence can be easily detected by the transparent spots made 

 by the larva. These should be burned, and such beans as are 

 apparently uninjured should be soaked for a minute in boiling 

 hot water, so that no beetles be overlooked. 



The Corn Sphenophorus. — ( >S. ^eo? Walsh. PL 1, fig. 11.) In 

 the Practical Eiitomologist (vol. ii. p. 117, 1867,) the late Mr. 

 Walsh described this weevil, and gave an account of its ravages 

 in the Middle and Western States. Mr. Robert Howell, in 

 Tioga Co., New York, was among the first to detect it, and un- 

 der date of June 14, 1869, he writes me that " this is the fourth 

 year they have infested the newly planted corn in this vicinity. 

 The enclosed specimens were taken on the 11th instant. I 

 presume they have been in every hill of corn in my field. They 

 pierce the young corn in numerous places, so that each blade has 



