OF HARTING. 339 



hazel nut, is in all other respects similar to that of 

 the nut weevil. Among the other species of this 

 family which we have met with here, we may specify 

 Grypidius Equiseti, Molytes coronatus, Hylobins A bietis, 

 PJiyllobius Pyri, Phyllobius argentatus, Phyllobius Mali, 

 and Cleonus sulcirostris, all in the park; Lixus para- 

 plecticus on aquatic plants, between the Springhead in 

 Brewhouse piece and the Kennels, and Panus barbi- 

 cornis in hedges and covers. Phyllobius argentatus 

 is the pretty little beetle so remarkable in our Ento- 

 mological career, as the very first insect we ever 

 examined under the microscope, and an indescribably 

 beautiful object it is, so resplendent with brassy-green 

 scales, that although much less dazzling than the 

 South American Diamond Beetle, which looks as if it 

 were studded with precious stones, it may be regarded 

 as its Harting representative. It is a very common 

 species and generally distributed. 



The elegant but minute pear-shaped weevils forming 

 the genus Apion, which attack the seeds of various 

 plants after the example of the nut weevil, are very 

 numerous, specifically and individually, and one which 

 is not uncommon here is the Apion frumentarium. 

 This is about a quarter of an inch in length, and under 

 a lens presents the appearance of a most exquisite 

 miniature carving in red coral, with jet black eyes. 

 Rhynchites pubescens, which we have taken in Pads- 

 wood Copse, is another weevil of a different form and 

 a rich shining blue, thickly clothed with short stiff 

 hairs, and a still more beautiful species inhabits the 

 same locality, RhyncJiites ' Betulce, a brilliant metallic 

 green, blue, violet, or purple beetle, with a rich golden 

 gloss on the rostrum and legs. Apoderus A vellance is 

 of more sober colours, and frequents most of our 

 upland covers. The food of its larva is the leaf of the 

 hazel, which the parent insect knows how to convert 

 into a neat pendulous lodging for its young, in which 

 the latter is enabled to consume an ample stock of 



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