62 
COLEOPTERA. 
Fig. 31. 
pea-Bmchus, or pea-weevil, but is better known in America 
by the incorrect name of pea-bug. The original 
meaning of the word Bniclms is a devourer, and 
the insects to which it is applied well deserve this 
name, for, in the larva state, they devour the in¬ 
terior of seeds, often leaving but little more,than 
the hull untouched. They belong to a family of 
the great weevil tribe called Bruchidje, and are distin¬ 
guished from other weevils by the following characters. The 
body is oval, and slightly convex ; the head is bent down¬ 
wards, so that the broad muzzle, when the insects are not 
eating, rests upon the breast; the antennae are short, straight, 
and saw-toothed within, and are inserted close to a deep 
notch in each of the eyes; the feelers, though very small, 
are visible ; the wino:-cases do not cover the end of the ab- 
domen; and the hindmost thiMis are very thick, and often 
notched or toothed on the under-side, as is the case in the 
pea-weevil. The habits of the Bruchians and their larvas 
are similar to those of the pea-weevil, which remain to be 
described. It may be well, however, to state here, that these 
beetles frequent the leguminous or pod-bearing plants, such 
as the pea, Gleditschia, Bobinia, Mimosa, Cassia, &c., during 
and immediately after the flowering season ; they wound the 
skin of the tender pods of these plants, and lay their eggs 
singly in the wounds. Each of the little maggot-like gmbs 
hatched therefrom perforates the pod and enters a seed, the 
pulp of wliich suflices for its food till fully* grown. 
Few persons while indulging in the luxury of early gi’een 
peas are aware how many insects they unconsciously swal¬ 
low. When the pods are carefully examined, small discol¬ 
ored spots may be seen within them, each one corresponding 
to a similar spot on the opposite pea. If this spot in the 
pea be opened, a minute whitish gnib, destitute of feet, will 
be found therein. It is the weevil in its larva form, which 
lives upon the marrow of the pea, and arrives at its full 
size by the time that the pea becomes dry. This larva or 
