PLANT-EATING INSECTS AND MYRIAPODS 



211 



false friend takes advantage of the opportunity thus offered, 

 and carries off the ball for her own use. Should no disappoint- 

 ment of this sort occur, the scarabaeus accomplishes the burying 

 of the ball in its subterranean chamber, and accompanies it for 

 the purpose of devouring it. The feast is continued, without in- 

 termission, till the food is entirely exhausted, when the scarabaeus 

 seeks a fresh store of provender to be treated in a similar manner ". 

 Dung is also collected by this Beetle for the benefit of the larvae. 



The " Wire- Worms " which attack the roots of crops are in 

 reality the larvae of small insects called Click- Beetles or Skipjacks 

 (Agriotes lineatus and A. obscurus), so named because they possess 

 a peculiar apparatus which enables them to spring up with a sort 

 of click when they happen to fall on their backs. 



Other examples of vegetarian beetles are the little Pea- and 

 Bean -Beetles (Bruchus pisi, 

 B. fabcz), the Colorado Po- 

 tato-Beetle (Chrysomela de- 

 cemlineata), and the members 

 of the huge family (some 

 20,000 species are known) 

 of Weevils. Probably every- 

 one has observed in a batch 

 of ripe hazel - nuts some 

 devoid of kernel, and with 

 the shell perforated by a neat 

 little round hole (fig. 444). 

 This is the work of the grub 

 of the Nut- Weevil (Balaninus 

 nucum), which has developed 

 from an egg laid by the 

 parent within the partly- 

 developed nut before the shell is hard, and later on bores its way 

 out in order to seek the ground, where, buried in earth, it passes 

 through the further stages in its life-history. 



NET-WINGED INSECTS (NEUROPTERA) 



The insects of this order possess mouth-parts well adapted 

 for biting, and constructed on much the same plan as those of 

 Beetles. Most of the species are carnivorous, and some such 

 have already been described (p. 1 1 1 ). Among those which are 



Fig. 444. Nut- Weevil (BaJanimis nucum} 

 i and 2, Adult weevils (2 being greatly enlarged) ; 3, snout of 

 weevil (greatly enlarged) ; 4, nut broken open to show the grub. 



