COLEOPTERA. 59 



what like it, inhabits the pods and eats the seeds of the locust- 

 tree, or Robinia pseudacacia. 



Naturalists place here a little group of snout-beetles, called 

 Brenthid.e, or Brenthians, which differ entirely in their forms 

 from the other weevils, both in the beetle and grub state. 

 They have a long, narrow, and cylindrical body. The snout 

 projects from the head in a straight line with the body, and 

 varies in shape according to the sex of the insect, and even in 

 individuals of the same sex. In the males it is broad and flat, 

 sometimes as long as the thorax, sometimes much shorter, and 

 it is widened at the tip, where are situated two strong nippers 

 or upper jaws; in the females it is long, very slender, and not 

 enlarged at the extremity, and the nippers are not visible to the 

 naked eye. The feelers are too small to be seen. The antennsB 

 are short, straight, slightly thickened towards the tip, and im- 

 planted before the prominent eyes, on the middle of the snout 

 in the males, and at the base of it in the females. The legs 

 are short, the first pair being the largest, and the hindmost 

 unusually distant from the middle pair. These insects live 

 under the bark and in the trunks of trees, but very little has 

 been published respecting their habits ; and the only description 

 of their larvas that has hitherto appeared is contained in my 

 first Report on the Insects of Massachusetts, printed in the 

 year 1838, in the seventy-second number of the " Documents 

 of the House of Representatives." 



The only beetle of this family known in the New England 

 States is the Brenthus {Arrhemdes) septemtrionis* of Herbst, 

 the northern Brenthus, so named because most of the other 

 species are tropical insects. It is of a mahogany-brown color; 

 the wing-cases are somewhat darker, ornamented with narrow 

 tawny yellow spots, and marked with deep furrows, the sides of 

 which are punctured ; the thorax is nearly egg-shaped, broadest 

 behind the middle, and highly polished. The common length 

 of this insect, including the snout, is six tenths of an inch; but 

 much larger as well as smaller specimens frequently occur. 



* A mistake undoubtedly for septemtrio nails. It is the Brenthus maxlllosus of 

 Olivier and Schonherr. 



