COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 231 



it, for the first time, near the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains. A very numerous flock had there taken 

 possession of the few diminutive bushes that oc- 

 curred within the space of a hundred yards, every 

 spray of which was burdened with their numbers. 

 After passing this limited district, not an individual 

 was seen during the remainder of the journey. On 

 the recent expedition of the same officer to the 

 river St Peter, I obtained but a single specimen, 

 which was found one evening at an encampment in 

 the North- West Territory." 



The next primary division of this order contains 

 all beetles which have four joints in each foot, and 

 is accordingly named 



TETRAMERA. 



An extensive family of this division have the 

 head elongated into a kind of snout or beak ; these 

 constituted the Linnaean genus Curculio, and in this 

 country are named weevils. They are very nume- 

 rous, amounting to nearly three thousand. They 

 invariably feed on vegetable substances, and many 

 of them commit much injury to the produce of our 

 fields and gardens. The genus Apoderus is distin- 

 guished by the length of the neck, which is united 

 to the thorax by a kind of rotula. The rostrum is 



