BEETLES. 339 



one species, at least, PJn/tohlus vchtirt<, rarely seen on water plants botli in Europe 

 and America, can swhn fairly well. Of another species, Lissorhojjtrus simj^lex, which 

 attacks rice in the eastern United States, Dr. C. V. Riley writes, "The beetle is just 

 as much at home under water as out of it, tiiough not surrounded by an air-liublile, as 

 in Hydrophilida?, Elmida', Pgrphc/tits, and others." 



A lari^'e number of adult weevils imitate their usual surroundings, bark, leaf-buds, 

 and other parts of plants, so successfully that they arc well protected fr<im attacks of 

 birds. In their earlier stages most of them are hidden, and the puj)a.i of some (e. g. 

 Cionus) that pupate in ex]iosed situations so closely resemble secd-j)ods of the plant 

 on which the larvae feed that they are not molested by birds. 



Guibourt, in 1858, called attention to a sugar which figures in the materia medica 

 of Persia, under a name meaning nest-sugar, which is obtained from swellings, as 

 large as olives, that are pro(lu(i'd 1]\- a species of Ixirinus upiui a jilant of the genus 

 Ecliinops^ in Syria. According to Ilanbury, another species of Larlnxs from the 

 same region makes a cocoon cuntaining saccharine matter. 



The number of described speeies iif Curculiouidaj exceeds ten thousand. This 

 family is here divided into sub-fairiilies, which correspond in limitations and charac- 

 ters to the similarly designated families in Le Conte and Horn's Rhynehophora of 

 Ameri<'a north of Mexico. 



To the sub-family Ajiiduina' behing those species which have straight antennas, the 

 abd<imen of the male and female alike, horizontal pygidium, and the elytra with a 

 lateral fold on the inner surface. JMost of the sjiecies are quite .^mall. 



Apion, the typical genus of this sub-family, is well represented in North America, 

 Imt the species are not yet careftdly studied. Many of these little weevils feed in 

 seeds. In America A. rostrum feeds in seeds of liapti^ia leucantha ; A. ser/nipes 

 in seeds of Tephrosia rir(/i/iira and of Attlragahi.s. In Europe, Heeger found the 

 larva^ of A. rin->'irostre in the stem of nudlow (Muh-a). The females, after pairing 

 several days with ditYerent males, lay their eggs, to the number of lifty or sixty, in 

 holes which they liore into the stem of the mallow. The larva? attain full growth in 

 from thirty to forty days, the Iteetles develnp in fnuu ten to fourteen days more, and 

 gnaw their way out of the stems. 



The sub-family Calandrinne contains s]iecies which have a steep or vertical pygid- 

 ium, and geniculate, clubbed antenna'. The sjiecies range from very large to very 

 small weevils. 



Three species of the genus Cdhindva are distriliuteil in North America, two of 

 which liave been introduced from Eurojic. They are small, and have an oval antenna! 

 club. ^ '. yn/»«;'/« is a pitchy red weevil about 0.12 of an inch long. The striate 

 elytra do not reach the tip of the abdomen; the coarsely punctured thorax is nearly 

 half as long as the whole insect. The females lay their eggs on stored grain, in which 

 the larvre feed. By rapid multiplication and immense numbers they sometimes do 

 great damage to grain in store. C. ori/::<i\ a l)eetle similar in form to the preceding 

 species, liut a trifle smaller, being generally about 0.1 of an inch long, differs from it 

 also in having one or two large red spots on each elytron. It attacks rice, wheat, and 

 corn {Zea mays), ovipositing on rice while growing. This beetle is said to have been 

 distributed by commerce to nearly every part of the world. The other North Ameri- 

 can species of CaJandra, C. remotfipvnctafa, resembles C. granarkt, but has much 

 more coarsely striated elytra. Like the introduced speeies of the genus, C. remote- 

 punctata feeds on grain. 



