158 



Insects most injurious to Cultivators : — 



weevil (Rhynchites Baccluu) ; a species which, although very 

 rare in Engiantl, is but too common in the vine districts of France 

 and Germany. 



The insect whose history I propose to detail in this commu- 

 nication belongs to the same class and order as the turnip flea- 

 beetle (p. 100.), and to the 



Family, Curculi6nid£e Leach. (So named from the LinnEean Genus Curculio, 

 to which it is equivalent.) 



Genus, Otiorhyucluis Germar. (So named from two Greek words, otion, 

 an ear, and rhiigchos, a rostrum ; expressive of the form of the rostrum, 

 which has a lateral appendage on each side at the extremity.) 



Species, Otiorhynchus sulcatns Fabricius. (St/sfemn E/eut/ieraio7-iim, ii. p. 539. : 

 Stephens, Illustrations of British Entomology ; Mandibulata, vol. iv. p. 114.) 

 Curciilio sulcatus Linnccus. S|)ecific name expressive of the sulci, or 

 grooves, upon the elytra. 



Fig. 67. G is a magnified view of this insect; and h the 

 natural length. 



67 



In the month of December, 1827, my lamented friend, the 

 late A. H. Haworth, Esq., so well known as the author of many 

 works upon succulent plants, lamented to me the numerous losses 

 which he annually sustained amongst these plants by some un- 

 known enemy, which caused their death, especially during the 

 mild winter months, and by which means many unique species 

 had been lost to his collection. On going into his green-house, 

 and examining, also, various plants in the open air, we found that, 

 in several pots containing plants of a species of 5edum, the 

 latter were evidently in a dying state; and, on taking up the plants, 

 we found a quantity of footless grubs in each pot, at a little 

 distance beneath the surface of the earth, which had eaten that 

 part of the root close to the surface, leaving the lower part, as 

 well as the leaves and stem, untouched. At the same time, we 

 also found eggs and larvae of a smaller size. This larva 

 {Jig. 67. A, natural size; and b, magnified) is nearly half an inch 

 long, of a dirty white colour, without any legs ; of a thick fleshy 

 substance, with the body slightly curved, and rather attenuated 

 towards both extremities. It is of an uneven surface : its sides 

 are furnished with fleshy tubercles ; and along its belly and back 

 are also placed small tubercles, which evidently serve in pro- 



