THE RHYNCHOPHORA, OR WEEVILS. 193 



Rhytidosomus and Orobitis are both peculiar, on ac- 

 count of their globular form ; the latter a dark blue 

 shining insect, found on a pretty species of vetch hav- 

 ing a habit of applying its legs close to its body. Packed 

 up in this manner, it has all the appearance of a ripe 

 seed of the common wild blue hyacinth, and its size 

 seems much increased when it unfolds its long straggling 

 limbs. 



Mononychus pseudacori, a larger, awkward looking, 

 dull black creature, with a white spot beneath the scu- 

 tellum, has very clumsy legs, of which the tibise are 

 obtusely and coarsely toothed on the outer side below 

 the middle, and only a single claw to the apical joint 

 of each tarsus. Its larva feeds in the pod of the wild 

 iris, and is taken in August, chiefly in the Isle of 

 Wight. 



The species of Acalles, dull brown, slightly varie- 

 gated, with strong ridges and spines, are found in old 

 twigs, hedges, etc. They have a peculiar habit of si- 

 mulating death, contracting their legs continuously with 

 the under side of the body ; and one of them has been 

 observed to make a stridulating noise similar to Crypto- 

 rhynchus. 



Bagous, Lyprus, and Hydronomus are all water-plant 

 frequenters, frequently found in mud or even under 

 water, and very often so encased with crusted dirt as to 

 be difficult to distinguish. They have short antennae, and 

 very slender tarsi, <of which the third joint is not bilobed, 

 and slightly (if at all) wider than the preceding, the 

 apical joint being long. The first and second of these 

 genera have the prosternum slightly excavated, whilst 

 in the latter it is level. For this reason they have been 

 separated widely in arrangements ; but they are in reality 



