334 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



Parandra hnmnea, the fleshy, oerambj-eid-liko larva of whieh is an inhabitant of 

 dead oak, ash, and beech wood, is from 0.50 to 0.75 of an inch long, of a shining 

 mahogany-brown color, and elongate form. It has antenn;e less than 0.20 of an incli 

 long, and adult structure otherwise anomalous for a longieorn, and has consequently 

 been put by some authors, with other .anomalous .allies, into the family Spoiidylida'. 



A large number of beetles of which the head is more or less prolonged anteriorlv 

 into a lieak, and of wliicli the lar\a- have considerable resemblance to one another, 

 Avere, for a long time, included in one hn-ge family, the Curculionidie ; the popular 

 name for these insects is "weevils."' Later tiie C'urculioni(he were divided liy different 

 authors in various ways into families, the name t"arculionid;e Ijeing retained for the 

 forms having the most typically beak-formed head, while the families Bruchida?, 

 Anthribida^, Rrenthida', and Scolj"tidfe were si^parated from the rest. Later still, 

 about 1874, Dr. J. L. Le Conte constituted of the weevils, excluding the Bruchida% a 

 separate group of Coleoptera, the Rhynchophora, which was sub-divided into families. 

 Dr. Le Conte's definition reads .as follows: "Rhynchojihorous Coleoptera are those in 



Fig. 375. — a, Bintchus pisi ; b, B. ruHitmnus : c, B. granarius 



which the posterior lateral elements of the head an<l prothorax coalesce on the median 

 line of the under surface of the body, so as to unite by a single suture." The Bru- 

 chidie, a group of seed-inhal)iting weevils, were excluded from the Rhynchophora and 

 placed near the Chrysomelidre. 



In the following pages the weevils, or old family Curculionida>, will be treated 

 under the families Bruchida^ Anthriliida', Brenthida% Scolytidte, and Curculionidne. 



The Bi;rrHiD.E consist of rather small, numdish or suliquadrate lieetles, having the 

 anterior ]>art of the head slightly extended, tlie nientum pedunculate, the prosternum 

 reaching the posterior margin of the thorax beneath, the antennte eleven-jointed and 

 thickened toward the tip, and the maxillary paljii four-jointed. The larva» of Bru- 

 chid£e do miich dam.age to the seeds of leguminous jilants. The perfect beetles appear 

 when the plants are in bloom, lay their eggs, gener.ally one by one, in the tender seeds 

 or upon the young pod. The l.arvie, as soon as they hatch from the eggs, bore in the 

 seed, jiot, however, preventing its growth. Pupation takes place in the seed, and the 

 perfect insect emerges in autumn or the succeeding spring, according to climate and 

 circumstances. Dr. .J. L. Le Conte has well said that "as the function of the Ceram- 

 bycidiB is to hold the vegetable world in check by destroying woody tilire, the Bru- 



