222 



INSKCTrf ABROAD 



with insects, this remarkable adornment is restricted to the male 

 sex, the rostrum of the female being quite smooth and hairless. 



The thorax is rounded and thickly and deeply granulated. 

 The elytra are regularly and boldly striated, and adorned in a 

 very curious manner. If examined by the unaided eye, the 

 surface is seen to be striated and speckled with white ; but if a 

 tolerably powerful magnifier be brought to bear upon it, a very 

 elaborate system of decoration is seen. Along the surface of the 

 elytra run a number of bold rounded ridges, lying parallel to 

 each other, and having a rather broad channel or groove between 



Fig. 108.— Rhina bnrliicornis. 

 (Black.) 



them. The ridges tlieinselves are covered with deep punctures, 

 and in the channels between them are placed a number of cir- 

 cular pits, too large to be called punctures, and nearly as wide as 

 the diameter of the channels, so that there is a single row of 

 pits in each channel. 



As we have noticed to be the case with several of the Weevils, 

 these pits are filled with some white substance, so as to produce 

 the effect of a series of white speckles. In most of them the 

 white deposit remains, but in some it is absent, and allows the 

 eye to penetrate to the bottom of the pit. What this white 

 deposit may be, how it gets into the pits, and what may be its 

 office, are mysteries as yet unknown. 



