COLEOPTERA. 59 



trees in this country. The largest one found here is the Rhyn- 

 chites bicolor of Fabricius, or two-colored Rhynchites. This 

 insect is met with in June, July, and August, on cultivated and 

 wild rose-bushes, sometimes in considerable numbers. That they 

 injure these plants is highly probable, but the nature and extent of 

 the injury is not certainly known. The whole of the upper 

 side of this beetle is red, except the rather long and slender 

 snout, which, together with the antennaj, legs, and under-side of 

 the body, is black ; it is thickly covered with small punctures, 

 and is slightly downy, and there are rows of larger punctures on 

 the wing-covers. It measures one fifth of an inch from the eyes 

 to the tip of the abdomen. 



The grubs of many kinds oi Apion destroy the seeds of plants. 

 In Europe they do much mischief to clover in this way. They 

 receive the above name from the shape of the beetles, which 

 resembles that of a pear. Say's Apion, Apion Sayi* of Schon- 

 herr, is a minute black species, not more than one tenth of an inch 

 long, exclusive of the slender sharp-pointed snout. Its grubs live 

 in the pods of the common wild indigo bush, Baptisia tinctoria, 

 devouring the seeds. A smaller kind, somewhat like it, inhabits 

 the pods and eats the seeds of the locust-tree, or Robinia pseud- 

 acacia. 



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

 Brenthid^, 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 pro- 

 jects 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 ex- 

 tremity, and the nippers are not visible to the naked eye. The 

 feelers are too small to be seen. The antennae are short, straight, 

 slightly thickened towards the tip, and implanted before the prom- 

 inent eyes, on the middle of the snout in the males, and at the 



* .^pion rostrum, Say. 



