4 
BEANS. 
use of their wings, establishing new attack. This takes place partly 
by some of the weevils going down stubble-stems for the winter, 
partly by others laying eggs which produce the “ white maggots ” 
presently found causing damage at roots of Clover. 
Mr. D. Turvill, of West Worldham, notes :—“ I have to make a 
grave charge against the Pea Weevil. It does immense damage to 
young Trifolium plants, clearing them off completely in a day or two. 
Like the Turnip Fly, its wings render it a lively and difficult enemy 
to subdue.” 
The only other notes sent in this year relate to the presence of 
Starlings on infested crops; also the following observation, sent by 
Mr. Goodwin, of Winfield House, near Sevenoaks, which gives a 
convenient method of lessening amount of attack on Broad Beans in 
garden growth, and again draws attention to the importance of hearty 
growth in carrying plants through temporary attack. 
Mr. Goodwin notes that in many gardens these weevils almost 
destroy the crop if their habits are not understood, especially if the 
weather at the time is against the rapid growth of the Bean:—“ The 
harm the beetle does is by continually nibbling the edges of the leaf 
[see figure], thus seriously checking the plant. As many as six may 
be found on one plant, and they begin operations almost as soon as the 
Beans are above ground. They are most active in still sunny weather, 
and, if you approach at all incautiously, immediately drop perpen¬ 
dicularly to the ground, and lie still, as if dead, till the danger is past. 
Nothing applied to them or the plant is of any use, as the weevils are 
very hard. 
“ The only way I can keep them under in gardens is to lay the 
hand flat, and, separating two of the fingers, let the stalk of the 
Broad Bean pass between them. This, if done very quietly, will 
cause some of them to drop, and, the hand being extended, will 
catch those that fall, whilst the other hand picks them out of the 
turned-back edges of the leaves, where they drop or creep on being 
disturbed.” 
With regard to the appearance of Starlings in large numbers in 
insect-infested Pea-fields, Mr. Hart, writing from Park Farm, Kings- 
north, Kent, observed that the weevil began to commit serious 
damage, and, although the Peas grew away from this attack, Aphis 
followed, and “ Starlings by hundreds frequented the Pea-fields, 
as also did numerous kinds of smaller insectivorous birds, but not 
the Sparrow, until the Pea was large enough for him to peck it out of 
the pod." 
Col. C. Bussell, writing from Stubbers, Bomford, in July, men¬ 
tioned, “Starlings frequent fields of Green Peas in flocks”: the 
neighbour, on whose ground they were then observed, failed to 
