84-(54) THE BEAT5T-WEEVIL, BEUCHUS KAI!.E. 



skins, and present their third stage as strong-winged, 

 grayish-brown beetles, about one-tenth of an inch long, 

 with elytra, or wing-covers, nrach shorter than the ab- 

 domen, and armed with a snout folded up under the 

 thorax when not in use. 



They now burst through the bean-skin, and fly abroad 

 to mate, and be ready to till with their eggs, the first 

 crop of incipient bean-pods that they had. The time of 

 their emergence seems to be rather indefinite, extending 

 from the latter weeks of winter into the spring. In the 

 specimens before me at this date, February 28th, all 

 three stages are represented in the beans, the grubs and 

 beetles, however, being rare, while most of the insects 

 present are in the demure pupa state; about one-third 

 of the whole number have already emerged, as is shown 

 by the empty holes left behind, and are abroad in the 

 county. 



That this insert is much more threatening than the 

 pea-weevil, is evident from two facts. The first is that 

 the pea usually contains only one weevil, and each seed 

 sends out but one pest for future injury, while the bean 

 contains from three to fifteen, or more, each seed furnish- 

 ing on an average, ( judging from the present specimens), 

 a more than ten-fold more numerous enemy than the pea. 



The second fact is that the single weevil of the pea ex- 

 cavates only his one tunnel, usually avoiding the germ. 

 But the numerous colony of bean-weevils, fairly riddle 

 the bean, so that those before me are more or less com- 

 pletely reduced to the powdery excrements of the worms, 

 the germ being destroyed in a large proportion of cases. 



It will of course be important to know what varieties 

 and species of beans are most, and what least injured by 

 tins insect. Published statements on thispoint are very 

 meagre. 



Of the two varieties submitted to my inspection, the 

 ''white kidney" is the most affected; the other, the '"pink 

 eyed china," having a somewhat smaller number of in- 

 dividuals in each seed. 



Mr. Buckingham informs me that three other varieties 

 of dwarf beans in the same garden, and also raised in 

 1881, viz: the "early mohawk," •'valentine, ,, and "short 

 six weeks." the only one that escaped infection being the 

 " yellow podded," yellow bean, and he calls attention to 



