CURCULIONIDiE — WEEVILS. 1 1 



any bardi, a few sharp kicks given to it with the foot will 

 cause it to crack and shake, when it is pushed over and tlie 

 grubs taken out, by breaking the tree to pieces with a ham- 

 mer. The bardi of the Xanthorea are small, and found 

 together in great numbers; those of the wattle are cream- 

 colored, as long and thick as a man's finger, and are found 

 singly.^ 



Dr. Livingstone states that in the valley of Quango, S. 

 Africa, the natives dig large white larvae out of the damp 

 soil adjacent to their streams, and use them as a relish to 

 their vegetable diet.'^ 



In the latter part of the eighteenth century, there was 

 published at Florence, by Prof. Gergi, the history of a re- 

 markable insect which he names Gurculio anti-odontalgicus. 

 This insect, as he assures us, not only in the name he has 

 given it, but also in an account of the many cures effected 

 by it, is endowed with the singular property of curing the 

 toothache. He tells us, that if fourteen or fifteen of the 

 larviB be rubbed between the thumb and fore-finger, till the 

 fluid is absorbed, and if a carious aching tooth be but 

 touched with the thumb or finger thus prepared, the pain 

 will be removed ; a finger thus prepared, he says in conclu- 

 I sion, will, unless it be used for tooth-touching, retain its 

 virtue for a year ! This remarkable insect is only found on 

 a nondescript plant, the Carduus i^pmosis-simus.^ 



It is said, also by Prof. Gergi, that the Tuscan peasants 

 have long been acquainted with several insects which fur- 

 nish a charm for the toothache, as the Gurculio jsecac, 0. 

 Bacchus, and Carahus chrysocephaluo. 



The curious facts contained in the following quotation, 

 from Chambers' Book of Days, were among the first that 

 led me to attempt the present compilation. The scientific 

 name of the insect here mentioned is, in the opinion of 

 Prof. Gill and other scientists, a misprint for Rhynchitus 

 auratus, and, following this decision, I have here placed it 

 under the Curculionidde. — "A lawsuit between the inhab- 

 itants of the Commune of St. Julien and a coleopterous in- 

 sect, now known to naturalists as the Eynchitus aui^eus, 



1 Simmond's Curiosities of Food, p. 313. 



2 Travels and Researches in S. Africa, p. 389. 



3 Monthly Mag. ii (Pt. II.) 702, for 1796. 



