THE BRUCHIDM. 31/ 



in a great number of species. The head is strong, and is clothed 

 with a leathery integument ; their antennae are very small, their 

 mandibles are strong, and often dentated ; and — as a rule, there 

 being a few exceptions to it — they have no eyes. 



The larvae are, therefore, very embryonic in appearance, and 

 can be contrasted with those of many other Coleoptera which are 

 much more developed. 



Three principal forms may be distinguished in this great 

 family — the BrtichidcB, whose beaks are short and broad ; the 

 AttelabincB, whose beaks are long and almost cylindrical ; and the 

 CiirailionidcB, which have beaks of greater or less length, or whose 

 antennae are bent after the first joint. 



The Brnchidcs are well known, on account of the mischief com- 

 mitted by the commonest genus, BriicJms. Almost every one has 

 seen dried peas pierced by a perfectly circular little hole ; and 

 some may have noticed a small beetle, about the eighth of an inch 

 long, coming out of them ; it is a blackish insect, marked with 

 white lines or spots. It is called Bruchns pisi, and is a very 

 common beetle. The mature insect lays its eggs when the peas 

 begin to ripen. As soon as the larvae are hatched, they make 

 their way into the substance of the pea from without, and devour 

 the inside. When the larva is about to undergo its metamor- 

 phosis, it gnaws in such a manner as to come so close to the out- 

 side skin that it only leaves a delicate layer between it and 

 the world. When the adult has undergone its transformations 

 it has only to break through this thin partition in order to come 

 into the light. In some instances the larvae remain within beans 

 and peas during the whole of the winter, and undergo their trans- 

 formations before it is time to sow the peas next year. Their 

 ravages were at one time so universal in North America, as to 

 put an end in some places to the cultivation of peas altogether. 



Brucus gra7tarius is another species which is very destructive 

 to the same plants in this country ; and in tropical countries 

 other species attack plants with seeds like peas, and some are 

 even found in the cocoa-nut. Dr. Baird writes that the species 

 of Anthribiis which belong to this family are most frequently 

 found amongst old wood, and some of them appear to live as 

 parasites upon the Cocci ; one species, which lives through the 



