18 



CURCULIONID^. 



Europe and North America, where alone tlie subject has received 

 any considerable attention, the species whose larvae and pupfe 

 have been described form a very small percentage of the whole. 



The outstanding feature of Curculionid larvse is that they 

 are, without exception, legless, and their general appearance is 



Fig. 8. — Early stages of Otiorrhynchus ligusiici, L. : a. pupn, yentral view 

 h, larva, lateral view. (After I. V. Vassiliev.) 



remarkably similar even in the most widely separated subfamilies 

 ((/. figs. 8, 9, 10). In those species which lead a more or less 

 stationary existence (and this is true of the great majority of 

 the known forms) the larvae are rather stout, with the body 



Fig. 9. — Early stages of Bhyncliites ruber, Fairm. : a, larva, lateral view ; 

 /', pupa, dorsal view ; c, pupa, lateral view. (After Silvestri.) 



distinctly curved and only slightly narrowed towards the tail 

 end. The head is entirely exserted, rounded and fully chitinised, 

 being of a testaceous colour, while the rest of the body is greyish 

 white or ivory white, except in the few species that are external 

 feeders, in which the body has a certain amount of green or 



