The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-04-18
The Pea weev,l.

EDS. COUNTRY GENTLEMEN:- will
you, through the columns of your es
teemed journal, give such information
as you may have in regard to the habitl
ard characteristics of the pea bug
From information at my command, ]
gather that the egg or germ is either
dropped while the plant is in bloom, OF
stung into the pea after the pod i,
formed. Yet l am unable to learn any.
thing of the existence of any moth, OF
fly or bug about the plants during an,
period of their growth. Seed growers,
/ understand, use camphor to destroy
the bug after the peas are harvested
but by waiting till that time, the peas
are often rendered unsightly by reason
of the holes made by the insect on its
way out of the seeds, and in some in.
stances destroying the germ. If there
has been any practical way devised BY
which the ravages of the bug may be
stopped, will you oblige me by infor-
nation in regard to the method?
r. B. H. Adams, N. Y.
The pea weevil belongs to the family
Bruchfd0, which differ from the fam.
lily of Curcuii0nide in having the pro-
boscis folded under the thorax. There
are at least three hundred species OF
Bruchus, the most common being the
pea weeyil, b. pisi, and the bean wee
vii, B. fabi. In 1857 a Virginia GORE.
~spondent sent us some specimens of B.
scutilldris, a European species now
quite generally diffused over the world.
The female pea weevil deposits her
eggs on the flowers ofthe pea, oron The
young pods just after Towering, and
fhs lsrvA oo eoop GA hatcbod al nL
thaough the tender, miniature pod into
the developing seeds. They feed on the
pulp or albuminous matter within the
growing peas, without interfering with
the growth or development of the germ,
or size Of the seeds. When the peas are
fully grown the larva eats a round hole
from the interior to the skin of the seed,
usually avoiding the germ, SO that peas
thus eaten will generally terminate.
The larva then being fully grown
changes TO the pupa state, in which 1t
remains till spring unless the peas are
kept In Q warm room, in which case
they undergo their final change much
earlier. The perfect beetle eats a round
hole through the skin, and Is ready to
after pairing, to begin another genera
ion.
The perfect insect IL a small, oval,
rusty black beetle, rather more than PC
millimetres In length Ga little oyer one
tenth Of an inch), with 3 white spot on
the hinder part of the thorax, four or
each wing cover, which is shorter than
the body, and a white spot shaped like
the letter t. on the hinder part of the
hnAu uuksnh nxsnfaAfu" hn A. ID
overs sufficiently to show this spot.
Often the hole through the skin of the
pea is not cut by the weevil until after
small that only an expert, accustomed
them in dark days, or al. night, when
lowering season. Like the c~urculios,
to which they are related, they feign
death when disturbed, and usually es-
insect over the continent as far north
as latitude A degrees, but is seldom
found In Canada, or In northern Eu-
rope. Gardeners seldom sraiss their
s sw% ss' IN p caasd Rssis ~Sles s 70 ss 1T Ri ia.
Tested. Enough peas are ripened in the
don . fbssliss year after year, aud prob
ably there Is q minute larva In each of
at least half the green peas eaten in the
o1 AZ ih s'a ssitisaisd psaI we%l. intro
duced into America from Europe, and
~ the pea weevil is IN indigenous in
. sect, IL pfobehly feedd on other iegumi-
nous plspsss ssd a|soy Z kept IN exist,
peas more or less grown in the Middle
Bates, and therefore ths only means
HAsh