360 ZOOLOGY 
Sub-order 3. Pseudotetramera. 
Family CURCULIONIDAE.—The weevils are easily recognised 
by the prolongation of their head into a snout; the antennae 
Fic. 203. 
. Balaninus glandium, magnified. 
. The same, natural size. 
. The larva, magnified. 
™ oF bh - 
. The same, natural size. 
5. Head and snout of the female 
magnified to show the arrange- 
ment of the antennae. 
6. The same parts of the male. 
are usually bent, and lie partly in a groove at the side of the 
snout (Fig. 203). The mouth with its appendages is situ- 
ated at the extremity of this prolongation. Their bodies are 
often minute and hard; they feign death when disturbed. 
Their larvae are white, fleshy, footless grubs, with thick jaws ; 
before transformation they spin silken cocoons. The number 
of species is very great, about 10,000. Salaninus glandium 
lays its eggs in hazel-nuts and acorns; its larva feeds upon the 
substance of the nut. 
Family ScoLtytipAr.—This family was formerly sometimes 
called the Bostrychidae ; it includes beetles of small and incon- 
spicuous size, whose rounded head is sunk beneath the pro- 
thorax, which is large, and forms almost half the body. The 
larvae resemble those of the preceding family; they have no 
legs, but their skin is ridged, and bears short hairs. These 
beetles and their larvae live in societies, boring passages in the 
wood of trees, on which they feed. In this way incalculable 
damage is done to forest trees, etc., especially to Conifers. The 
female lays her eggs in recesses of the passage she has made, 
