insects: TiiEm eaks and eyes, 185 



illusion in the appearance: it seems as if tlic dividinc; 

 point of the joints were, as I have just said, at the ter- 

 mination of the oval, but when we look closelv we see 

 that the summit of each oval is, as it were, cut off bj a 

 line, and by comparing the basal joints with the others, 

 we see that this line is the real division, that the sum- 

 mit of the oval really forms the bottom of the succeed- 

 ing joint, and that the constricted part is no articula- 

 tion at all. Tlie first, or basal joint (called the scaj)i(s), 

 and the second (called the pcdiceUa), differ in form 

 from the rest, here but slightly, but often considerably. 

 The whole of the remaining joints are together termed 

 the clavola. 



You may see a considerable diversity of figure and 

 of aspect generally in this tiny "Weevil, which may be 

 accepted as a representative of a great ftnnily of 

 Beetles, the Curculionidcp. The manner of their in- 

 sertion strikes us at first sight as peculiar, as is in fact 

 the aspect of the whole head. Instead of a thick sub- 

 stantial solid front, M'itli powerful widely-gaping jaws, 

 such as we saw^ in the Carahus, here projects from be- 

 tween the eyes a long rod-like proboscis, as long as the 

 whole animal besides, curving downwards, and carry- 

 ing at its very extremity a minute mouth, with all the 

 proper apparatus of lips, jaws, and palpi. Moreover, 

 the antennce are planted on the two sides of this beak, 

 about its mid-length ; and they are curiously elbowed, 

 each projecting horizontally at a right angle to the 

 beak for a considerable distance, and then with a sharp 

 angle becoming parallel to it for the remainder of their 

 lengtli. So that, supposing the tenniTial half of the 

 beak to be broken off just behind the insertion of the 

 antennce, the whole would compose the letter T. Xow, 



