SNOUT-BEETLEvS. 179 



shorter. It is either broad or thin, short or long, straight or 

 curved. The small sharp jaws are situated at the end of the 

 beak or rostrum; the labrum and palpi are small or wanting; the 

 slender feelers arise from the sides of the beak, and are elbowed 

 in the middle, ending in a knob or club; the rostrum is often 

 grooved at the sides for the reception of the feelers, and the eyes 

 are small and round. But the most distinctive character is the ab- 

 sence of the gula, there being but a single gular suture, (Fig. 187), 

 and the epimera of the pro-thorax meet on the middle line be- 

 hind the presternum. The body is compact, and frequently 

 wedge-shaped, and not uncommonly has a ridged and pitted sur- 

 face, or is raised into tubercles. The tarsi are four-jointed, each 

 joint strongly bilobed and cushioned beneath. None of our 

 species are of more than medium size, and most of them are very 

 small. 



Nearly all our northern species of snout-beetles, when dis- 

 turbed, feign death, and do so most skillfully and persistently; 

 the feelers disappear into the grooves in the beak, and the latter 

 is bent under in many cases, close to the body, as are also the 

 legs, and the beetle drops to the ground, closely resembling a bit 

 of twig, a bud, or a seed, and thus escapes detection. In the trop- 

 ics, however, many of such beetles are very active, and take to 

 their wings almost as readily and easily as the tiger-beetles. 



Many of the larvae of such insects live in fruit, seeds, nuts ; 

 others devour the substance inside the stems of plants, and still 

 others subsist on wood. Larvae of snout-beetles are usually more 

 or less curved, pale, and much wrinkled, as may be seen in the 

 following illustrations, which show their structure as well as that 

 of the adults and pupae. 



FAMILY RHYNCHITIDAE. 



This family includes small beetles in which the elytral fold 

 is very feeble, the labrum wanting, and in which the mandibles 

 are toothed both on the outer and inner side. The mandibles can 

 be widely spread apart ; when closed the outer tooth at the end 



