CHAPTER XIV. 



RHYXCHOPHOJ^A. OR WEEVILS. 



The hidden virtues of the Weevils have yet to l)e discovered. 

 That such virtues exist there can be no doubt, but at pre- 

 sent they are so very deeply hidden tliat they are quite 

 unknown. 



We are perfectly aware that even in this country the Weevils 

 do an enormous amount of direct injury to man. The Corn 

 Weevil, for example, tiny though it may be individually, is 

 collectively a formidable enemy, attacking grain in such vast 

 swarms that the proprietors of corn-stores are obliged to sift 

 their grain before they deliver it, and tind that the Weevils 

 which they have separated from the corn may be measured by 

 the ton. Then the Eice Weevil is just as destructive in the 

 grain from which it takes its name, and the Apple Weevil and 

 the Nut Weevil do great damage in the orchards. Some Weevils 

 attack trees, others garden plants, and others the growing crops 

 of peas, beans, and other vegetables. Abroad, the Weevils are 

 infinitely more destructive, because they are so much larger. 

 There is, for example, the Palm Weevil, which will presently be 

 described, which attacks the palm-trees and does much damage 

 to them ; and the Sugar AVeevil, which causes like destruction 

 among the growing sugar-canes. 



None of our Weevils are large, and the most destructive of 

 them are fortunately the smallest. Abroad, however, and espe- 

 cially in tropical climates, the Weevils attain very great dimen- 

 sions, and their larvse are correspondingly destructive. Yet, 

 though some of these insects are so large, others are exceedingly 

 small, some being so minute that without the aid of a magnify- 

 ing glass it is not easy even to distinguish the order to which 







