CHAPTER VII 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO BEANS AND PEAS 



Edible legumes are subject to injury by certain weevils, 

 which deposit their eggs upon or within the pods on the grow- 

 ing plants and develop within the seed. The specific enemy of 

 the pea is the pea weevil, and of the bean, the common bean 

 weevil, both of sufficiently wide distribution and abundance to 

 hold high rank among injurious insects. The inroads of these 

 weevils in seeds cause great waste, and particularly is this true 

 of seed kept in store for any considerable time. In former 

 times popular opinion held that the germination of leguminous 

 food seed was not impaired by the action of the larval beetle in 

 its interior, but this belief is erroneous, as will be shown in the 

 discussion of the nature of the damage by the pea weevil. 



Although it is not probable that any serious trouble follows 

 the consumption by human beings of the immature weevils in 

 green peas or beans, the use for food of badly infested dry 

 seed filled with the dead bodies and excrement of the beetles 

 would naturally be attended with unpleasant consequences. 



Growing pods in the fields are invaded by the bollworm and 

 pea moth, and the foliage i^ preyed upon by numerous insects. 

 Of foliage feeders are the bean leaf-beetle, bean ladybird, 

 blister beetles, cutworms, and other caterpillars. Several forms 

 of plant-bugs, leafhoppers, and aphides also exhaust the plants 

 by sapping their juices. 



The Pea Weevil (Bruchiis pisorum Linn.). — Seed peas are 

 often found with a single round hole in them, due to the attack 

 of the pea weevil or "pea bug," the largest of the pea and bean- 



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