220 



The Orders of Insects 



with short hairs beneath. The larvx are fleshy grubs with very 

 short legs; the head has short, four-segmented feelers, and strong 

 mandibles ; the prothorax is much larger than the following seg- 

 ments which become narrower as the tail-end is approached ; all 

 the segments bear chitinised sclerites and tubercles which act as 

 sucker-feet. The grubs live and feed in the wood of trees (fig. 1 22). 

 Consequently the Longhorns are most numerous in species in forest 

 regions, and especially in the dense virgin forests of the tropics, 

 though the family is distributed in all parts of the world where 

 trees can grow. 



Bruchidae. — The Bruchida are rather small beetles, with the head, 



\\\hMm I which is produced 

 in front, partly 

 hidden beneath the 

 pronotum; the 

 eleven - segmented 

 feelers are saw- 

 shaped or comb- 

 shaped but never 

 clubbed, though 

 often broadened to- 

 wards the tip. The 

 elytra are rather 

 short always leav- 

 ing the hinder part 

 of the abdomen ex- 

 posed. The hind 

 tliighs are always 

 thiclcened and the 

 feet resemble those 

 of the Cerambycidse 

 inform. Thelarvse 

 are short, stout, 

 white, fleshy grubs 

 with the legs 

 absent or vestigial ; 

 they feed in seeds, chiefly of leguminous plants, the female beetle 

 laying her egg on the seed-vessel of the flower and the young grub 

 eating its way through, completing its development within the 

 seed and there turning to a pupa (see fig. 70). The family is dis- 

 tributed in all parts of the world. 



Chrysomelidae. — The Ckrysomdidce or Leaf-beetles are an exceed- 

 ingly large family closely allied to the Cerambijcida which they 

 resemble in most points of structure. In the Cerambycids, how- 

 ever, the epimera of the metathorax project backwards towards 

 the first abdominal sternite, while in the present family the 

 abdominal sternite is produced forwards at either side towards the 

 metathorax. The relative shortness of the feelers serves to dis- 



mmmmmmmMm^ 



\22 — Longhorn- Beetle, '^a/er^a farc/zarzaj (L.), 



Europe, and its larva. Natural size. 



