54 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



when the latter are turned backwards. Their feelers are very 

 small, and, in most kinds, are concealed within the mouth. The 

 abdomen is often of an oval form, and wider than the thorax. 

 The legs are short, not fitted for running or digging, and the soles 

 of the feet are short and flattened. These beetles are often very 

 hurtful to plants, by 'boring into the leaves, bark, buds, fruit, and 

 seeds, and feeding upon the soft substance therein contained. 

 They are diurnal insects, and love to come out of their retreats 

 and enjoy the sunshine. Some of them fly well ; but others have 

 no wings, or only very short ones, under .the wing-cases, and are 

 therefore unable to fly. They walk slowly, and being of a timid 

 nature, and without the means of defence, when alarmed they turn 

 back their antennae under the snout, fold up their legs, and fall 

 from the plants on which they live. They make use of their 

 snouts not only in feeding, but in boring holes, into which they 

 afterwards drop their eggs. 



The young of these snout-beetles are mostly short fleshy grubs, 

 of a whitish color, and without legs. The covering of their 

 heads is a hard shell, and the rings of their bodies are very convex 

 or hunched, by both of which characters they are easily distin- 

 guished from the maggots of flies. Their jaws are strong and 

 horny, and with them they gnaw those parts of plants which 

 serve for their food. It is in the grub-state that weevils are most 

 injurious to vegetation. Some of them bore into and spoil fruits, 

 grain, and seeds ; some attack the leaves and stems of plants, 

 causing them to swell and become cankered ; while others pene- 

 trate into the solid wood, interrupt the course of the sap, and oc- 

 casion the branch above the seat of attack to wither and die. 

 Most of these grubs are transformed within the vegetable substan- 

 ces upon which they have lived ; some, however, when fully 

 grown, go into the ground, where they are changed to pupae, and 

 afterwards to beetles. 



In the spring of the year we often find, among seed-pease, many 

 that have holes in them ; and, if the pease have not been exposed 

 to the light and air, we see a little insect peeping out of each of 

 these holes, and waiting apparently for an opportunity to come 

 forth and make its escape. If we turn out the creature from its 

 cell, we perceive it to be a small oval beetle, rather more than 



