128 THE OEDER OF COLEOPTERA. 



The Cuiculionidie are generally small beetles, probably not averaging 

 more than a quarter of an inch in length, and a great number being less 

 than half this length. A few of the tropical species, however, are 

 amongst the giants of the beetle tribe, some of them attaining a length 

 of from one to two inches. 



The larvae are soft, white, footless grubs, and almost always inhabit 

 the substance of plants, more especially the fruit in its various forms of 

 seeds, nuts, and pulpj' fruits. The larvie of a few foreign genera, how- 

 ever, (Hypera, Coniatus and Cionus,) live upon the surface of leaves, 

 the pulp of which they devour. These, living exposed to the light, pre- 

 sent somewhat variegated colors; and tbej^ have two or three simple 

 eyes, or ocelli, on each side of the head. When about to transform, 

 they attach themselves to a leaf or its i^etiole, and enclose themselves 

 in a thin gauze-like cocoon ; a curious anomaly in the Coleopterous 

 order. The larvae of some of the more minute species belong to the 

 class of leaf- miners, and others inhabit the stems of herbaceous jilants, 

 causing them to enlarge into the excrescences known as galls, and 

 which bear a certain resemblance to unripe fruits. As a tribe, there- 

 fore, the suont-beetles are pre eminently the occupants and devourers 

 of fruits, and as other tribes of tetramerous beetles are known by the 

 Greek names of Xylophago, or wood-eaters, and Phytophaga, or plant- 

 eaters, the snout- beetles might be properly styled Carpophaga, or 

 fruit-eaters ; but we have retained the name by which they are generally 

 known, and which is so happily expressive of their most distinctive 

 character, namely : Rhynchophora, or snout-bearers. 



This tribe of beetles comprises the four following families : 

 A. Labrum aud palpi normally developed ; anteunte not elbowed ; snout short and 

 thick. 



B. Antenna; saw-toothed ; eyes notched Bruciiid^. 



B B. Antennfe clavate ; eyes round or slightly sinuate Anthribid^. 



A A. Labrum and palpi obsolete. 



C. Antennae straight and filiform ; proboscis pointing directly forwards; body 



elongated Brentiiid^. 



C C. Antennae clavate and usually elbowed; snout various CrRcuLiONiD^. 



Family LV. BRUCHID^. 



This is a small family of small-sized beetles, always less than a quar- 

 ter, aud sometimes one-eighth of an inch in length. The only tetramer- 

 ous beetles with which they could be confounded are the Curculiouidai 

 and the Chrysomelidie; but they differ from the former by having the 

 labrum and palpi of the ordinary form, and the head is but little pro- 

 longed anteriorly; and they differ from the great miijority of the latter 

 in their short, serrate antennae, and in having the tip of the abdomen 

 uncovered by the elytra. But a few aberrant genera of ChrysomelidiBj 



