The Pea Moth. Grapholitlia pisana. Curtis.

Fig. XIX.

1, larva on pea; 2, larva mag.; 3, moth nat. size; 4, moth mag.

It is very usual to find many of the peas in the pods at harvest time, and even while still green, half eaten, and surrounded with little particles of dust and dirt. In some instances as many as twenty per cent, are thus affected, to the great loss of weight and injury to the appearance of the samples. Much loss is sustained very frequently from this by seed-pea growers. Crops of valuable seed peas, worth from 10s. to 15s. per bushel, have been much injured by this pest in recent seasons in the pea fields in Kent, Essex, Surrey, Bedfordshire, and Lancashire, as well as in market garden farms, and in market gardens, and their value greatly reduced. The peas that are attacked cannot all be cleaned from the bulk, and buyers naturally think that the plants were unhealthy, and that it is dangerous to sow the seed. Sometimes the work of this moth is attributed to weevils and beetles, the Sitonæ and Bruchidæ. It is, however, entirely of a different character from this and is done at another period. This, insect is well known in France and Germany.