222 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
garnered by boring and ovipositing therein, so that the statements 
are not conflicting, for both are right. 
Packard remarks that the weevil family may at once be recog- 
nised by the head being lengthened into a long snout or proboscis, 
used for boring into objects when about to oviposit, near the 
middle of which are situated the long, slender, elbowed antenneze. 
At the extremity of the snout are situated the mouth parts, which 
are much reduced in size, the palpi having small rounded joints. 
Their bodies are hard, and generally round, and often very minute. 
They are very timid, and quickly feigned death. ‘The larva are 
white, thick, fleshy footless grubs, with fleshy tubercles instead of 
legs, and are armed with thick curved jaws. They feed on nuts, 
seeds, the roots, pith, and bark of plants, leaves or flowers, and 
especially the fruits, while some are leaf miners, and others are 
said to make galls. Preparatory to transformation they spin silken 
cocoons. ‘The number of species already known is immense, being 
not less than 8,000 to 10,000, and upwards of 630 genera have 
been already described by Schonherr and others. The genus 
Calandra has a slender snout slightly bent downwards, a coarsely 
punctured thorax, nearly half as long as the whole body, while the 
elytra are furrowed, and do not quite cover the tip of the abdomen, 
The grain Weevil, Calandra sitophilus, the one under con- 
sideration, is pitchy red in colour, and immensely prolific; the 
surface rough. It is about th inch long. ‘This great pest, both 
as larva and beetle, consumes wheat after it is stored up, being 
very abundant in granaries. The larva devours the inside of the 
hull, leaving the shell whole, so that its presence is not easily 
detected. 
Sitophilus oryze attacks the grains of rice and also of wheat. 
It differs in having two large red spots on each elytron, and it is 
abundant in the south, where it is called the ‘“ black weevil.” 
As we get the bulk of our grain from America, Packard’s state- 
ment, as an American naturalist, is important. So far as the 
description goes he concurs with English entomologists, but there 
is a difference in classification, and in the generic and specific 
names, making identification, in the first instance, to amateurs a 
little confusing. 
That the diet of these creatures is selective there is doubt, but 
failing one dish they avail themselves of another, and so we find 
by personal observation that the weevil Calandra granartus passes 
from wheat to rice, and wice versa. 
After his usually exhaustive way Westwood further remarks, 
“As may be expected from the great extent of this family the 
modification of structure amongst the exotic genera are almost 
endless. The form of the body in some is quite linear and 
attenuated, in others globose or oval; while the surface is in some 
