THE APRICOT WEEVIL. 175 



of a battledore with the handle broken off, and the head rather 

 rounded. The surface is covered with ridges as regular as 

 those of the elytra from which it came, and each ridge projects 

 a little beyond the end of the side, so as to produce a series of 

 teeth. Over the whole of each scale the light plays with a 

 changing lustre, and indeed each tiny scale seems, when greatly 

 magnified, to reproduce in itself the splendid colours of the 

 entire insect. 



Several other members of the typical genus are well known 

 to gardeners from the mischief which they do to the flowers and 

 fruits. For example, there is the GtROOved Weevil (Otio- 

 rhynchus sidcatus), which is too plentiful in gardens, and has a 

 peculiar predilection for potted plants, getting just between the 

 root and the stem, and nibbling round the plant until it first 

 weakens, and then destroys it. Owing to the sober-grey 

 exterior of the Beetle, it is enabled to lie concealed on the 

 very spot where it does so much harm ; its egg-shaped body, 

 disguised with the particles of earth which cling to its scaled 

 and bristly surface, looking more like a dusty stone than an 

 insect. 



The larva of this destructive Beetle was found by Messrs. 

 Westwood and Haworth busily engaged in devouring the roots 

 of a species of Sedum, which had been potted. This larva is 

 rather long in proportion to its width, and is covered with 

 short stiff hairs, by means of which it is able to push its way 

 through the earth. It lives but a very little below the surface 

 of the ground, and never eats any portion of the plant that 

 makes its way into the open air, and, as it continues to 

 feed throughout the winter months, does an enormous amount 

 of unsuspected mischief. It changes to the pupa state about 

 May or June, and assumes the perfect form in three or four 

 weeks. 



Another of these Beetles is popularly kn-^wn by the name of 

 Apricot Weevil {Otiorhynchus tenebricosua), because it chiefly 

 attacks those fruit-trees which are nailed against the wall, 

 the apricot often suffering direfully from its inroads. This 

 Beetle is pitchy-black and rather shining , and, when examined 

 through a lens, the head, thorax, and elytra are seen to be 

 thickly granulated, while on the eljrtra are also regular rows of 

 punctures. It may seem strange, but it really is the case that 



