COLEOPTERA 



105 



great variety of coloration. A large and most important 

 family of leaf-eating beetles, containing some of the worst 

 crop pests (Fig. 42). The Colorado potato 

 beetle belongs here. 

 Note especially: 



(a) The form, sculpturing and coloring 

 of the body. 



(b) The blunt herbivorous mouthparts. 



(c) The form of tarsi, similar to that of 

 the preceding family. 



15. The snout beetles or weevils: This is a 

 group of several families of small herbivo- 

 rous beetles, nearly all of which have the bar ^^7$>£ 

 front of the head prolonged into a beak, *■*■*<*« a**)- 

 with the mouth parts carried out to its tip and the antennae 

 part way down its sides. They are mostly hard shelled and 

 convex; and there are numberless kinds of them. 



Note especially : 



(a) The form of the head and position of its appendages. 



(b) The antennae elbowed in middle and clubbed at the 

 tip. 



(c) The feet, formed as in the two preceding groups. 



Compare together beetle larvae of the following types: 



(a) Active, free ranging, carnivorous larvae of ground 

 beetles or of water beetles. 



(b) Free living but sedentary larvae of leaf beetles. 



(c) Soil inhabiting; white grubs and wire worms. 



