BEETLES. 87 



and seems to have been accidentally imported here 

 with grain. 



The Rice-weevil (Calandra Oryzce) belongs to 

 the same genus, and is found, as its name indicates, 

 in rice ; where it may be seen every day. It is of 

 about the same size as the preceding, but differs 

 from it by having two spots on each wing-cover. 



In almost all the different seeds we find very 

 small maggots; which are afterwards metamorphosed 

 into Coleopterous Insects, and are on that account 

 called Seed-beetles. These animals, like the ones we 

 have just described, have a prolonged snout, but 

 comparatively much shorter, and a very short 

 body. 



The most destructive among them is the Pea- 

 weevil (Bruchus Pisi), famous in Europe, but much 

 more common in America, the larvae of which live 

 in peas. The Beetle itself is about the size of a 

 bed-bug ; round, flat on the upper surface, of a dark- 

 brown colour, with white spots upon the thorax and 

 wing-covers. 



When the peas are in blossom and begin to have 

 pods, the females deposit their eggs upon them, and 

 we find therefore a very small maggot in almost 

 every green pea, the existence of which can only 

 be perceived by a small black dot upon it. In 



