THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



127 



ICaliii, discovered specimens of our own iniligenous 

 •• I'ea-biig " (Briicliii^ pini) just disclosed in a parcel 

 ol' peas wliicli he had taken witli him from America , no 

 wonder he was tlirown into mkIj a trepidation, lest lie 

 should he the iiislruuient ofinlrciducing so fatal an evil 

 into hU beloved Sweden; and the X Y. Farmers' Cluh 

 may expect the anathemas of the farmers of the coun- 

 try, if, with the vulgar, they deem this Bug matter 

 lieneath their notice. 



In order that our readers may becouie well acquainted 

 with the appearance lof this weevil, wo present (Fig. .sfi) 

 figures of its ditferentstates, liotli luaguificd and natural 

 size, as found in Curtis'sFarm Insects, and quote from 

 the same author the following account of its habits: 



••This spocies, which is everywhere abundant as 

 early as Kchruaryon the furze when it is in blossom, 

 inhabitinjt also the llowers of various other plants in 

 the beetle state, as the Hhubarb, Meadow-sweet (>>e- 

 rati •ilmaria), etc., is a most destructive insect in our 

 Ilea and bean fields, the larva' feeding in the seeds and 

 sometimes ilestroying tnore than half the crop. They 

 are exceedingly abundant in some parts of Kent, where 

 tUcy often swarm at the end of May, and are occasion- 

 ally found as late as August; indeed I killed one in 

 November, imported with Russian beans, which had 

 been alive since the end of September. It attemiited 

 to fly away in October; it then became torpid, but on 

 warming it by a tire in the middle of November, it was 

 as lively and active as in the height of summer, and I 

 dare say would have lived through the winter. 



• • It is said that the female beetles select the finest 

 peas to deposit their eggs in, and sometimes they infest 

 crops to such an extent that tbey are eaten up by tlicni, 

 little more than the husk being left. The various kinds 

 of beans are equally subject to their inrOads; besides 

 the long-pods I have alluded to. I have had broad 

 Windsor beans sent to tne containing these Bna-hi; and 

 Mr. C. Parsons transmitted rac some horse-beans in 

 the beginning of August, 1842, which were entirely 

 destroyed by them. Mr. F. .1. Craham showed me 

 some seed-beans which were inocidated by these beetles 

 to a great extent, and some of them were alive in the 

 seeds; yet to any one ignorant of the economy of this 

 pest, there would not appear the slightest exterpal 

 indication of their operations. I also received from a 

 gcntleuuui residing in Norfolk a sample of seed-bi-aus 

 from Kussia, for winter sowing, a large proportion of 

 which was perforated by this BruchuH. 



' ' It has already been intimated that as the beetles 

 generally leave the germ uninjured, the vitality of 

 infested seeds is not destroyed. I doubt, however, 

 if they iiroduce strong healthy plants; and from my 

 own experience I have no doubt if peas and beans be 

 sown containing the Bntchus ijraiiariuK, that the beetles 

 will hiitch in the ground, and thus the cultivator will 

 entail upon himself a succession of diseased pea and 

 bean crops. Now to avoid this loss, the seed should be 

 examined before sowing, when to an experienced eye 

 the presence of these beetles will be discernible, where 

 to a conunon observer they would appear sound and 

 good. The maggots, when arrived at their full size, 

 gnaw a circular hole to the luisk or .skin of the seed, 

 whether pea or beau, and i^veu cut round the inner 

 surface wliicli covers the aperture, so that a slight 

 pressure from within will force this lid off; these spots 

 are of a different color to the rest ol the seed, generally 



having a less opaque appearance, and often are of a 

 duller tint; on picking off this little lid, a cavity will be 

 found beneath containing either a maggot, pupa, or 

 beetle." 

 Locnst Borer — /. Af. ^^/mjfer, Falrjiehl, Juaa.— 



..[FlR. <w.] 



The large yellow worms, \ariegatetl 

 jivith light brown, which Mr. Jas. 

 Eckert found imbedded in the com- 

 mon Black Locust, are the larva' of 

 the Locust Carpenter Moth (Xijladus 

 rohinnu, I'eek), ftn insect which has 

 long been known to attack the lilacU 

 l^ocust, and which has materially 

 helped the naore common borer, 

 whicb is tlic larva of a beetle i C7j/!/« 

 roliini'ii) in killing our Locust groves 

 throughout the country. ^Yc repre- 

 sent herewith (Fig. Hii) for the benefit 

 of the general subscriber, one of the 

 female worms. It is not often that 

 the sex of an insect can he foretold 

 in the larva stOTC, but there is such 

 disparagement in size between the 

 male and female of this Carpenter 

 Moth that it is easy to do so in this 

 instance . the male worm being scarcelj' 

 half as large as our figure. They spin 

 their cocoons within the tree in the 

 early part of the siiring, and in lime 

 change to chrysalids (Kig. 87, ?). 

 In the moth state, the ditt'erenee be- 



[FiK. s;.] 



Colui-LiKhl l.i<.«ii. 



tweeii the sexes is not confined to size, for while 

 the male (Fig. XS) is but two-thirds as large as the 

 female, he is characterized further by being of a nuicli 

 darker gray, and by having the hind wings of an ochre- 

 yellow, while she has none of that color about 

 her, (See Fig. ,S!(.) The moths issue from the trees 



Dark gray oiui ochrc-ycllow. 

 during the last days of .luiU' and first days of July. 

 Both sexes arc quite difficult of detection, as they de- 

 light to rest on oM rough trees, their closed wings 

 nuieli resembling a piece of rough bark. 'I'lie worms 

 are found more frequently in old trees than young, and 

 we believe it is for the very reason that the older trees 

 afford the moths greater protection. The ovipositor of 

 the female is extensile, the better enabling her to 

 deposit her eggs in the deep notches, and dark bottoms 



