OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



71 



CHAPTER XIX. 

 Order COLEOPTERA. Siib-Order R ii y n c o p H o R A. 



SNOUT-BEETLES AND BARK-BORERS. 



[Fig. SO.l 



Apple curculio— (a) natural size; (b) side 

 view; (c) back view, enlarged— after Riley. 



The snoiit-beetles are all included, by the most recent writers on the 

 subject, in seven or eight very distinct families, but the species are 

 very numerous. Xone of the Xorth American species are of more 

 than medium size, while the majority are small — under one-fourth inch 

 in length. The great peculiarity of these insects is found in the pro- 

 longation of the front part of the head into a beaTc or snout, termed the 

 rostrum, which is either broad and short, or long and thin, in some spe- 

 cies straight, in others curved. The small but sharp jaws are situated 

 at the end of the beak, and the labrum and palpi are but very slightly 

 developed or wanting. The antenna^ arise from the sides of the beak ; 

 they are slender, elbowed or bent in the middle, and end in a knob or 

 club. The rostrum is often grooved at the sides for the reception of 

 these organs. The eyes are small and round. The body is compact 

 and often wedge-shaped, and in many species the surface is ridged, 

 pitted and raised into tubercles. The feet are four-jointed, each joint 

 strongly bilobed and cushioned beneath. » 



When disturbed or frightened, most of the species " play 'possum," 

 feigning death most skillfully and persistently. The antennre sink into 

 the grooves in the beak, the latter, where its structure permits, is bent 

 under, close to the body, as are also the legs, and the insect drops to 

 the ground motionless, where its color and shape so closely simulate a 

 dried bud, bit of twig or seed, that only the most practiced eye can 

 detect it. 



