392 
that perhaps we are more deeply indebted than we have been aware to 
ants for destroying those larvee which inhabit the ground. 
It will be noticed that the above observations in respect to the pupa- 
tion of the white grub agree with the very interesting account given by 
Prof. S. A. Forbes in his last report, and as the localities are quite 
widely separated it is of interest to note the entire agreement of the 
results. In Vermont, as in Illinois, the species of Lachnosterna pupate 
and come out as beetles in the early fall, a few to emerge at once from 
the earth, and to remain not dormant, but apparently as active as usual, 
in the ground until, in this region, about the Ist of May, when they 
begin to come from their hiding place. 
THE FIRST LARVAL STAGE OF THE PEA WEEVIL, 
In our last number we published a short popular article upon the 
Bean and Pea Weevils, calling attention for the first time to a most. 
interesting post-embryonic larval stage of the Bean Weevil, in which 
the larva is possessed of false legs which serve its locomotive needs 
until it has entered the bean, when, with a cast of the skin, they are 
lost and the larva assumes the ordinary weevil form. At that time 
material was not at hand to enable us to verify our suspicion that a 
similar stage would be found in the larva of the Pea Weevil, but we 
have recently received fresh pea-pods from the West which bore eggs _~ 
of Bruchus pisi, and we have found them in our own garden. 
The fact that the Pea Weevil deposits its egg on the outside of the 
pod, fastening it thereto, has long been known, and we have found, as 
we surmised would be the case, that the newly-hatched larva of this 
species has the same characteristics as those we have described in the 
case of the Bean Weevil. The only difference is that the temporary 
legs are much shorter and stouter, though similarly constructed, the 
tarsus proper being a mere spatulate pad. A further difference exists. 
in that the spurs on the prothoracic segments are more elaborate and 
conspicuous, consisting of six strong, retrorse spines, anteriorly pre- 
ceded by two more prominent plates also pointing posteriorly and 
strongly toothed along their exterior border. There are no anal spurs 
or spines. An interesting fact connected with this larva is, that while 
ordinarily entering the pea direct from the amber-colored egg, as pre- 
viously recorded, it sometimes enters the pod in the neighborhood of 
the egg and then mines along the inside of the pod for some dis- 
tance, being quite active and moving rapidly and with ease. This 
doubtless occurs wherever the egg hatches before the peas are suffi- 
ciently developed, the larva living as a miner until the pea is nearly 
full grown, and the entrance of the larva into a pea in such case would 
seem to be rather by chance than by design. As in the case of the 
Bean Weevil, however, the larva molts and loses its legs and other 
post-embryonic characters as soon as it has entered the pea. 
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