856 Marvels of the Universe 
has been capable of rapid movement. But when once it reaches its goal within a pea, it changes 
its skin, and with its skin go its legs. It is transformed, in fact, into an inert maggot. Meantime 
the pod and its peas continue to grow as if nothing out of the common had happened. Nevertheless, 
the thief has forced an entry and does not remain idle. It feeds within the growing pea—cautiously, 
we must suppose, for its gnawings seem in no way to affect the development of the seed. 
Only one grub is found in a pea. Moreover, the pea provides more than sufficient food for the 
creature’s needs ; so that when the insect at length changes to a pupa, the interior of the pea is 
only partly demolished. Before transforming to the dormant pupa state, the grub eats its way to 
the rind of the pea, leaving only the thin outer skin stretched across the end of its burrow. Thus, 
when the beetle is mature, it has only to 
push through this diaphragm in order to 
make good its escape. It has been shown 
experimentally that the beetle would be 
unable to liberate itself but for the instinc- 
tive preparations made by the grub. 
Some of the beetles emerge in the 
autumn. But a large number of them, 
probably the majority, lie up in the peas 
throughout the winter. Many do not 
appear until after the peas have actually 
been sown. This means much to the 
practical gardener, because many beetle- 
ridden peas, being only partially de- 
stroyed, still retain the power to germinate. 
But such seedlings are naturally weak, 
and few, if any, of them develop into 
good plants. It follows that all peas 
which contain beetles should be discarded. 
How are they to be known? In the 
case of peas from which the insect has 
already emerged, the tell-tale exit hole is 
sufficient evidence. But when the beetle 
still lies perdu within the pea, detection is 
not so simple. Such peas, however, may 
be known by a round spot on the surface, 
Photo by] [Harold Bastin. : : ‘ 
THE PEA WEEVIL. slightly different in colour from the rest 
The adult insect is about one-fifth of an inch long. Its ground of the rind—that is, by the patch of thin 
SO eee chin (rovexdn attch Whe Dooille thes, “its 
tender pods of the pea as soon, in fact, as the flower has withered. spot must not be confounded with the 
circular depressions, or dimples, natural to many peas. A little practice enables the gardener to 
recognize the sign-manual of the beetle pest. 
Many gardenets aver that by throwing seed peas into a vessel of water, those which are infested 
may be at once discovered because they will float on the surface, the sound peas sinking at once to the 
bottom. Experiment has shown, however, that this statement is not wholly trustworthy. Probably 
the only safe plan, when valuable seed is concerned, is to examine the peas separately. In this 
way one may assure oneself that each pea sown has at least a fair chance of developing into a strong 
plant. 
The adult pea-beetle is black in colour, more or less covered with brownish or greyish down, 
It has a very near relation, which attacks broad beans—two or more larve being sometimes found in 
