BEAN PESTS 
plain, broad, white band along the 
margins of these wings and an ocherous 
band with brown spots across the inner 
fourth. This band is especially conspicu- 
ous The hind wings are light gray. The 
moths are small, scarcely more than one- 
half inch long. They are exceedingly 
active on wing and foot. The pupa is 
rich brown and usually enclosed in a 
thin white cocoon. The young larvae are 
white or light green When full grown 
they are white or distinctly reddish above 
and greenish beneath. The head is dark 
as is also the prothoracic plate and the 
legs. They average about one inch in 
length. When disturbed they wriggle 
violently. 
Life History 
The writer has never seen the eggs so 
is unable to state where they are de- 
posited, but judging from the observance 
of their work they are probably laid 
upon the bean plants and the pods as soon 
as they are formed. As soon as hatched 
the young caterpillars bore through the 
pods and begin feeding upon the beans 
inside, all of which are usually gnawed 
into or destroyed before fully developed. 
When ready to pupate the larvae either 
do so in the pod or select some other 
place. Very often they crawl into the 
ground and pupate under clods or any 
convenient shelter. As a protection a thin 
white cocoon is spun. In this stage some 
of the insects hibernate though many ap- 
pear as adults in late summer and fall. 
There is but one brood a year. The adults 
appear in the spring about May. 
Distribution 
Apparently across the southern half of 
the United States and in Europe. 
Food Plants 
The beans in the pods of the small bush 
lima beans are the favorite food for this 
moth, though it occasionally attacks those 
of the large limas. 
Control 
Harly beans are the ones suffering from 
the attacks of the caterpillars, though the 
later plantings do not escape. As the 
bush lima is usually the only crop at- 
579 
tacked it would be well to plant the large 
and later varieties instead. 
E. 0. Essie 
Rep Sprper. See Apple Pests. 
Seed Corn Maggot 
Pegomya fusciceps 
One of the causes of failure of germi- 
nation of seeds in the ground is the seed 
corn maggot, otherwise known as the 
bean maggot. It is said to attack the 
seed of peas, corn and beans, and also to 
work on a varied list of plants including 
pumpkin, cotton, orange, artichoke, straw- 
berry, cabbage, beets, onion, mustard and 
other plants. 
The attack is most serious when made 
just after the germination of the seed. 
Later attacks are less apt to kill outright, 
though naturally they are bound to di- 
minish the crop. With the young beans 
the attack is likely to occur just as the 
beans are nicely appearing above the 
ground. The cotyledons are blackened 
and the young central shoot often is 
shrivelled and dead. Maggots are often 
to be found in the decaying cotyledons or 
in the fleshy stems beneath the surface 
of the soil. This occurs during the first 
part of July. The adult flies appear in 
the third week in July. 
The maggots appear very much like 
those of the onion maggot and those of 
the cabbage maggot, being white, taper- 
ing, and about one-fourth of an inch long. 
The adult fly looks like a miniature house 
fly, being about one-fifth of an inch long. 
The seed corn maggot is credited with 
breeding in decaying vegetation and also 
in fresh manure. 
Remedial Measures 
The standard repellents, sand and 
kerosene, and carbolic acid emulsion can 
be used when the beans are in the garden, 
just as in the case of radish and onion 
maggots. However, in the field, such 
methods are hardly practicable. The 
avoidance of freshly applied stable ma- 
nure and the substitution of commercial 
fertilizers during the year that beans are 
raised on a given piece of ground, should 
prove beneficial when the maggot has 
once made trouble. Of course beans 
should never be planted where the mag- 
