108 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



[Sept. 1895. 



SO much heavier than air, it works down through the peas." It 

 is estimated by Professor Riley that one pound of bisulphide of 

 carbon is sufficient for 1,000 cubic feet of space. 



Dipping infested peas in boiling water immediately after they 

 are harvested and threshed has been recommended as certain to 

 kill the larvae within the peas, but it is feared that this would 

 at the same time destroy germination. 



Beans are infested by a similar beetle, Bruchus fahce, Riley. 

 This insect is smaller than the BrivcJms pisi, and several beetles 

 are often found in one bean. The female beetles deposit eggs 

 first of all on the pods of the beans in the same way as the pea 

 beetle, but they also breed in the beans when stored. Professor 

 Riiey first made this interesting discovery in 1882. Beans, 

 especially " broad beans/' are largely imported from abroad, and 

 quantities of beetles are brought in with them, although Bruchus 

 fahce has been known in this country as long as the pea beetle. 

 Purchasers of beans should carefully examine seed beans before 

 sowing them. Infestation is somewhat difficult to discern before 

 the larvae changes. Methods of prevention to be adopted in this 

 case are the same as in tlie case of Bruchus pisi, except that 

 infested beans must be treated with bisulphide of carbon, or 

 disposed of as quickly as possible, as infestation rapidly increases 

 in stored beans. 



The Bread Beetle (Anohium paniceum^ L. ; Sitodrepa 

 panicea, Thorns). 



1. Beetle magnified ; line showing actual length. 



2. Larva — natural size and magnified. 



This is a cosmopolitan insect, being conveyed from country to 

 country in the numerous articles upon which it feeds. It is 

 called the bread beetle because it is found sometimes in bread, 

 biscuits, and other farinaceous compounds. It does not, how- 

 ever, by any means confine its attentions to these, as it is found 

 in drugs, in the backs of books, collections of herbs, skins, the 

 feet of stufied birds, and many other substances. 



