206 INSECTS ABROAD. 



parts of the mouth. But in this Beetle there is no such 

 enlargement, and consequently the mouth is so small, that 

 even with a fairly powerful pocket lens it is no easy task to 

 find it. 



In its larval state this Beetle lives on a palm-tree, Cycas or 

 Zamia Gaffra, one of the group which furnishes sago and arrow- 

 root, their trunks containing a large quantity of starch. Zamia 

 farfuracea, for example, a West Indian species, affords the finest 

 quality of arrow-root. 



On the fruit-clusters of the palms the larva of this Weevil 

 lives, eating not only the nuts themselves, hut the red, lleshy 

 envelope which surrounds them. The larva is nearly all white 

 and covered with stiff, white, erect hairs. The head, together 

 with the first segment of the thorax and a patch on the last 

 segment but one, is brown, and there are some slight longi- 

 tudinal punctured black lines on the body. It has six true 

 legs, and some false legs like those of a caterpillar, set upon 

 the abdomen. The last pair are rather the largest. 



The colour of this species is reddish brown. The elytra are 

 slightly hollowed at the sides, and are deeply ridged. The ridges 

 themselves are broken into little knobs, and the spaces between 

 them are finely punctured. There are five species of this 

 genus in the British Museum, one of which, Antliarhinus Dregei, 

 is very small, and has its antenna? nearly as long as the head. 

 It is brown, with a black patch in the middle of the elytra. 

 The name AntliarMwus is formed from two Greek words, and 

 refers to the long and tube- like form of the head. The first 

 word signifies anything by which water is drawn, and the other 

 signifies " a snout." 



o 



We now come to the Entimidse, a family which contains some 

 of the most splendid Beetles in the world. They are remarkable 

 for their wonderful colouring, which is obtained by the iridescent 

 scales with which their bodies are clothed. The name Entimidce 

 is (Jreek, and signifies something that is honoured or prized. One 

 of these Beetles, Entimus si>h:tuUdns, a native of Brazil, is shown 

 on Plate ITT. p. 1. Green, gold, and black are the prevailing 

 colours of this insect. The thorax has a bright green stripe 

 running along its cent re, and the sides are green-gold, except the 

 black knobs which project plentifully from it, The elytra are 



