October, ’24] 
LARSON: WEEVILY SEED BEANS 
545 
amount of stored plant food available for the young plant is a very im¬ 
portant factor in the production of the coming crop. 
Observations on the Weevils Contained in the Cotyledons 
After the Plants Came up 
Immediately after the beans came up it was not always possible to see 
the weevils which were contained in the cotyledons; however, the larger 
weevils were visible so that daily observations could be made without dis¬ 
turbing them. The dead weevils were observed only to see their effect 
on the rate at which the cotyledons were absorbed by the young plants. 
Living weevils were observed to see what if any was the likelihood of their 
infesting the growing crop. 
There were living larvae, pupae and adult weevils in lots of Pinto, 
Brown Kentucky Wonder, Superior Kentucky Wonder, Canadian 
Wonder beans, and in Blackeyed cowpeas when they were planted. 
There were living pupae and larvae in Red Ripper cowpeas and living 
larvae in Pink and Cranberry beans. None of the Canadian Wonder 
came up. 
After the beans came up no living adults were found, although dead 
adults were found where it was expected that live ones existed. Living 
pupae were observed on different dates, but were not observed to be 
alive on more than two successive days. Generally the dead pupa was 
found in the cell, but in two instances the pupae were gone. They were 
undeveloped, so they could not fly. If wind or other agent had shaken 
them out of their open pupal cells they would have fallen into dust and 
dirt, where they would have perished. 
On May 16th, nineteen living larvae were observed, only six of which 
were alive the next day, and only one survived until May 22nd, and 
none until May 23rd. Larvae that were not in sight on May 16th 
became visible later, and the more completely the larvae were covered 
in the cotyledon the longer they lived. This was forcefully illustrated 
when on May 20th a cutworm cut off a bean plant in which only one 
larva had been found on the 16th, the same larva being dead on the 
17th. On dissecting the cotyledons of this plant two living larvae were 
found. One larva was found to live 9 days. The larvae shriveled up and 
appeared to die from starvation, whereas, the pupae and adults appeared 
to be killed by the excess moisture in which they found themselves when 
the bean had changed from its former dry condition to that of a moist 
growing plant. 
This indicates that no weevils planted in beans will live to escape into 
