THE NUT WEEVIL. 133 



and these organs tliemselves are sometimes elbowed, 

 as in our type, and sometimes perfectly straight. A 

 striking exception to the ordinary slow motion of 

 these insects is presented by some curious little 

 Weevils forming the genus Orchestes, in which the 

 hinder thighs are much thickened, so as to enable the 

 little creatures to perform leaps of considerable extent. 

 But we must return from this digression to examine 

 the habits of our Nut Weevil in the perfect state. 

 When ready to deposit her eggs, the female creeps up 

 the hazel bushes in search of the green nuts, in the 

 soft shell of which shp gnaws a minute hole with her 

 small but powerful jaws. In this she deposits an 

 egg, the larva hatched from which passes into the 

 interior of the nut, and feeds upon the soft kernel, 

 always, however, according to some observers, avoid- 

 ing those vital parts of the seed upon which its con- 

 tinued growth depends. These habits are exhibited 

 with little variation by a great number of these 

 beetles, which, however, feed on very various vegetable 

 substances, some attacking the fruits and seeds of 

 plants and trees, others the leaf or flower-buds ; some 

 devouring the leaves themselves, mining in their 

 parenchyma, or residing in galls upon their surface. 

 Some are exceedingly destructive in orchards ; such 

 are the Anthonomus Pomorum and A. Pyti, which 

 feed upon the blossoms, and even sometimes on the 

 young fruit of the apple and pear. A species with 

 straight antennae, the Rhynchites cupreus^ is said by 

 Kollar to be very injurious to plums in the neighbour- 

 hood of Vienna ; it bores deeply into the substance of 

 the young plum with its rostrum, lays an e^^ at the 

 mouth of the hole, and then pushes it down into the 

 wound, which it closes carefully with the skin; it 



