INSECTS AFFECTING HOUSEHOLD GOODS 225 



The adult weevils may emerge in from nine to seventeen 

 days. In more southern latitudes the weevils leave the seed 

 in August, but in the North they remain in the seed over 

 winter and are in it when planted. There is only one gener- 

 ation a year and this species does not reproduce in dry peas. 



One of the best means of destroying the weevils, where it 

 can be done, is simply to hold the peas over for a year, so 

 that the weevils will emerge in the bags and finally die. A 

 remedy which many Canadian farmers have used success- 

 fully is to drench the seed with kerosene, using about half a 

 gallon to five bushels of peas. It is applied by placing the 

 peas on a floor where they can be shoveled over to insure 

 even treatment of all. When seed to be used for planting is 

 found infested with live weevils they may be destroyed by 

 pouring the peas into a pot of scalding hot water. The 

 water should be drained off at once and the peas cooled im- 

 mediately by pouring into cold water. The same result 

 may be secured by heating the seed to 145 Fahrenheit 

 and then cooling. Probably the best remedy is fumigation 

 with carbon bisulphide, using one pound to 100 bushels of 

 seed, or one ounce to 100 pounds. A kerosene barrel is a 

 convenient receptacle in which to fumigate small quantities, 

 requiring about three ounces of bisulphide. For further 

 directions for use, see page 335. 



133. The Common Bean- wee vil. * The common bean- 

 weevil is the principal pest of the bean in the United States. 

 The adult weevil is about one-eighth of an inch long and is 

 covered with a fine gray-brown or olive pubescence, and the 

 wing-covers are mottled, as shown in Fig. 157. It may 

 be distinguished from the pea-weevil by the larger thorax 

 and by the two small teeth next to the large tooth at the tip 

 of the hind thighs. The eggs are inserted in the bean-pods 

 * Bruchus obtectus Say. Family Bruchidx, see page 122. 



