ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



BRUCHUS PISJ. Linne. 



Black, head nearly triangular, the jaws prominent: 

 eyes large, kidney-shaped and deeply notched for the 

 insertion of the antenna? : antennae with the first 

 four joints small and red, the others gradually in- 

 creasing in size, and black : thorax black, punctured 

 and covered, more or less, with short yellow hair 

 elytra black and variegated with spots of yellowish 

 grey hair : the abdomen is inflexed, covered with 

 greyish hair, with two blackish spots : anterior pair 

 of legs redish brown, the second and hinder black, 

 the thighs of the latter very large. 



Length 2\ lines. 



Inhabits pea fields. 



Mr. Kirby says, " In a late staire of growth, great 

 havoc is often made in peas by the grub of this in- 

 sect, which will sometimes lay an egg in every pea 

 of a pod, and thus destroy it. In this country, how- 

 ever, the mischief caused by the Bruchus is seldom 

 very serious ; but in North America is most alarm- 

 ingly destructive, its ravages being at one time so 

 universal as to put an end in some places to the 

 cultivation of that favorite pulse. No wonder then 

 that Kalm should have been thrown into such a tre- 

 pidation upon discovering some of these pestilent 

 insects just disclosed in a parcel of peas he had 

 brought from that country, lest he should be the 

 instrument of introducing so fatal an evil into his 

 18-2 



