S^O MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 



diamond beetle). The species are exceedingly numerous; the descrip- 

 tions, or mere specific references, occupying the ten or twelve thick 

 octavo volumes of the work of Schcinherr, by whom, as well as by Pay- 

 kull, Clairville, Germar, and others, this family has been especially in- 

 vestigated. There are about 400 species described by Mr. Stephens, 

 as inhabitants of this country, belonging to the genera forming the 

 present restricted family, few of which exceed half an inch in length, 

 and even the tropical species are seldom more than an inch and a half 

 long. Many of these insects are exceedingly splendid in their colours ; 

 the various species of diamond beetles surpassing the majority of 

 Coleopterous insects. In our own country, the Polydrusi and Phyl- 

 lobii are not less beautiful, although of a much smaller size. In these 

 species the splendour is caused by minute scales, similar to those 

 upon the wings of butterflies. There are two memoirs upon the 

 structure of these scales in the 10th and 14th parts of the Natur- 

 forscher by M. Lindenbi.n-g. 



These insects are entirely herbivorous, some feeding upon leaves, 

 others upon seeds, and some upon the stems of vegetables, occasionally 

 as in the case of the corn weevil (Calandra granaria), doing very great 

 mischief to grain, &c. : they creep but slowly, the structure of their 

 cushioned tarsi indicating strong adhesive, rather than cursorial, 

 powers. On the approach of danger, they fall to the ground, or sud- 

 denly take wing ; many species, however, are destitute of organs of 

 flight, the elytra being soldered together. 



The larvos of the Curculionidae are fleshy grubs, entirely destitute 

 of articulated legs, but having their place supplied by a double series 

 of retractile fleshy tubercles ; the extremity of the body is not fur- 

 nished with spinose processes ; the head alone being scaly. The 

 best known of these larva) is that of Balaninus Nucum, the white 

 fleshy grub so common in ripe nuts, in which, whilst in a very young 

 and tender state, the egg is deposited by the parent weevil ; the long 

 rostrum being stated by some authors to be first employed in drilling 

 a hole for the reception of the egg ; the larva, when hatched, feeds 

 upon the kernel, having the instinct not to touch the vital parts of 

 the fruit till the rest is consumed. The larva is thick, and of a white 

 colour, with large fleshy tubercles along the sides of the body. When 

 full grown, it bores a hole through the shell of the nut, and falls to 

 the ground, into which it immediately burrows, remaining unchanged 

 until the beginning of the following summer, when it assumes the 



