128 THE OEDEE, OF COLEOPTERA. 



Tbe Ciiiculioiiid?e are generally small beetles, probably not averaging 

 more than a quarter of an inch in length, and a great number being less 

 than half this length. A few of the tropical species, however, are 

 amongst the giants of the beetle tribe, some of them attaining a length 

 of from one to two inches. 



The larvte are soft, white, footless grubs, and almost always inhabit 

 the substance of plants, more especially the fruit in its various forms of 

 seeds, nuts, and pulpy fruits. The larvfe of a few foreign genera, how- 

 ever, (Ilypera, Coniatus and Clonus,) live upou the surface of leaves, 

 the pulp of which they devour. These, living exposed to the light, pre- 

 sent somewhat variegated colors; and they have two or three simple 

 eyes, or ocelli, on each side of the head. When about to transform, 

 they attach themselves to a leaf or its petiole, and enclose themselves 

 in a thin gauze-like cocoon; a curious anomaly in the Coleopterous 

 order. The larvce of some of the more minute species belong to the 

 class of leaf-miners, and others inhabit the stems of herbaceous plants, 

 causing them to enlarge into the excrescences known as galls, and 

 which bear a certain resemblance to unripe fruits. As a tribe, there- 

 fore, the snout-beetles are i)re eminently the occupants and devourers 

 of fruits, and as otlier tribes of tetramerous beetles are known by the 

 Greek names of Xylophago, or wood-eaters, and Phytophaga, or plant- 

 eaters, the snout- beetles might be properly styled Carpophaga, or 

 fruit-eaters ; but we have retained the name by which they are generally 

 known, and which is so happily expressive of their most distinctive 

 character, namely : Ehynchophora, or snout-bearers. 



This tribe of beetles comprises the four following families : 

 A. Labruin and palpi normally devcloijed ; anteuniB not elbowed ; snout short and 

 thick. 



B. Antennaj Sfaw-toothed ; eyes notched '. Bruchid^. 



B B. Antennre clavate ; eyes round or slightly sinuate Anthribid^. 



A A. Labrum and palpi obsolete. 



C. AntenniB straight and filiform ; proboscis pointing directlj' forwards ; body 



elongated Buentuid^. 



C C. Antennae clavate and usually elbowed; snout various Curcxjlionid^:;. 



Family LV. BRUCHID^. 



This is a small family of small-sized beetles, always less than a quar- 

 ter, and sometimes one-eighth of an inch in length. The only tetramer- 

 ous beetles with which they could be confounded are the Currculionida) 

 and the Chrysomelida^ ; but they difier from the former by having the 

 labrum and palpi of the ordinary form, and the head is but little pro- 

 longed anteriorly; and they differ from the great majority of tbe latter 

 in their short, serrate antenuic, and in having the tip of the abdomen 

 uncovered by the elytra. But a few aberrant genera of Chrysomelidie, 



