404 



wlien the pod is very young and in a formative condition, the 

 larva on entering sets up a considerable disturbance in the 

 developing tissue, some of it probably caused by the entrance 

 of bacteria. If the eggs are laid on the edge where the 

 young saclike developing seed is attached, this injury very 

 frequently prevents further growth of the embryo seed, 

 and thus a considerable loss of beans is caused in which the 

 young larvae have not fed. The pod is also frequently 

 deformed as the result of these attacks. 



The yoimg larva, instead of entering the developing seed 

 at once, feeds for some time in the gummy or syrupy layer 

 between the inner and outer fibrous layers of the pod. It is 

 not until the young seed has reached practically its full di- 

 mensions and when its cotyledons are firm in texture that the 

 larva enters at one edge and makes its way to near the center 

 of the seed. Here it feeds rapidly and attains full growth 

 and pupates after destroying the entire embryo before the pod 

 has reached its full thickness and before the pu.lpy and syrupy 

 layer has attained its full thickness. 



The young pod is at this time about three-sixteenths of an 

 inch or less in thickness, against the five-sixteenths of an inch 

 attained at full maturity, and the pod is much easier of penetra- 

 tion by the ovipositor of the parasites than later when the 

 fibrous layers have become hard and woody. It is at this time 

 the attacks of HeterospiJus prosopidi>i Viereck upon the 

 Brurlius larvae usually take place. 



The destruction of the very young beans and the eating 

 of the green beans in a later stage of their development 

 constitute the greater part of the injury done b}^ this Bruchus. 



The adult weevils can, as has been previously recorded, 

 ovi])osit in crevices in the ripe pod, very often in the holes 

 fi-om which the weevils have emerged, and the larvae enter 

 into the ripe seed and devour its contents. It seems probable 

 that this reinfestation is likely to be more extensive when the 

 pods are so damp as to give considerable fluidity to the syrupy 

 contents of the pulp and to soften the seed coats. 



