WEEVILS. 217 



Larvae strongly curved, somewhat square in transverse 

 section, whitish, hairy and 6-legged. The beetles appear in 

 the spring or early summer. 



The beetles and larvae live chiefly in rotten wood, partly in 

 standing trees, where they eat out galleries which cross one 

 another ; also in the pith of young pine-shoots, as for instance, 

 Ernobius nigrinus, Er. ; in spruce cones, AnoUum aUetis, 

 Fabr., and others. They also live in fungi, in the woodwork 

 of houses, and in furniture, for instance, Anobmm pertinax, 

 L., and A. do;?/esfetw,Fourc., a small brown beetle 2 lines long, 

 known on account of the ticking noise it makes as the " death- 

 watch." 



Xestobium tesselatum, Fabr. 



Imago 5 to 6 mm. long, convex, subcylindrical, dark-brown, 

 very finely and closely punctured, and dappled with patches 

 of short greyish-yellow hairs. 



The imago and larva bore into and riddle the wood of 

 old standing trees (oak, beech, sycamore, etc.) and also the 

 timber-work of churches and old houses. Locally common in 

 England. 



The attack of Anobiidae on trees generally begins at an old 

 wound, particularly on the stump of a branch. 



Treatment The removal of attacked stems. Careful 

 and timely dressing of exposed wounds and branch-stumps 

 with tar. 



FAMILY VI. CURCULIONIDAE (WEEVILS). 



Description of Family. 



Imagos small or of medium size, with the head produced 

 into a straight or bent rostrum or snout, at the end of which 

 are the small mouth-parts. Antennae nearly always elbowed, 

 8 to 12-jointed, with a club of very variable structure ; their 

 basal joint is capable of being folded into a groove or scrobe 

 in the snout. Elytra broader than the thorax. Fore coxae 

 spheroidal or conical, hinder coxae small and transverse. 

 Legs stout, the thighs sometimes adapted for leaping. Tarsi 

 4-jointed, the last joint but one being generally heart-shaped, 



