686 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo b} L. h. Jtuttt] 



[Ntw 



HARLEQUIN BEETLE 



Notice the enormous length of the front legs 



One of the largest and 

 most famous of these in- 

 sects is the DIAMOND- 

 BEETLE of Brazil, the scales 

 from whose wing-cases are 

 so frequently mounted as 

 microscopic objects. When 

 viewed through a good . 

 instrument under a power- 

 ful light, the beauty of 

 these scales is simply in- 

 describable. All that one 

 can say of them is that 

 they seem to be composed 

 of diamonds, rubies, 

 topazes, and emeralds 

 massed together in rich 

 profusion, while diamonds 

 are transformed into rubies, 

 rubies into topazes, and 

 topazes into emeralds at 

 every change of light. 



The OSIER-WEEVIL, a 



black-and-white species about three-eighths of an inch long, is found on osiers in Great Britain, 

 the grub boring galleries in the stems, and often causing considerable damage. The well-known 

 CORN-WEEVIL is still more destructive in granaries, the walls of which are often completely 

 blackened by its crawling multitudes. The grub lives inside the grain, eating out the whole 

 of the interior, and a single pair of the weevils are said to be capable of producing a family of 

 more than 6,000 individuals in the course of a single season. The RlCE-WEEVIL is equally 

 destructive to rice, and may be recognised by the two red spots on each wing-case. 



The famous " GRU-GRU " of the West Indies, which is regarded as so great a dainty both 

 by the negroes and by many of the white colonists, is the grub of the PALM-WEEVIL. It 

 lives in the stems of palm-trees, and also in those of sugar-canes, causing a great deal of 

 mischief by its burrowings. When fully fed, it constructs a cocoon by tearing off strips of 

 bark and weaving them neatly together. The SUGAR-WEEVIL is still more troublesome, feeding 

 upon the juice of the sugar-cane, and affecting the entire plant in such a manner that sugar 

 can no longer be manufactured from it. 



" Bad " nuts are also due to one of 

 these insects, the common NUT-WEEVIL, 

 which introduces its egg into the kernel 

 during the earlier stages of its development. 

 When the grub hatches, it proceeds to de- 

 vour the kernel, leaving a quantity of bad- 

 flavoured " frass " behind it, while the shell 

 is left untouched until the perfect insect 

 emerges. An allied species attacks acorns 

 in a similar manner. 



Among the finest and largest of all 

 beetles are many of those belonging to the 

 great Long-horn group, of which the com- 

 mon BRITISH MUSK-BEETLE is a familiar TURNIP-FLEA 



It is about one-tenth of an inch in length 



Phott by J. Edward,} \_Coltibornt 



JUMPING-BEETLE, ALLIED TO THE 



example. This insect owes both its popular 



