102 ORDER COLEOPTERA. 



Strong and stout, especially the anterior and posterior pairs. The thighs are stout : they 

 all have a hook or claw at their extremities. The tarsi are reflexed and four-jointed, spongy 

 beneath, basal joint subclavate, second ovate, third broader and slightly bilobed, fourth 

 clavate and furnished with two minute claws. Length nearly two lines. 



* This insect seems early to have attracted the attention of naturalists. Leuwenhoek 

 closely observed its economy, and his observations were published as far back as 1687 ; 

 but to Olivier, however, are we indebted for the most accurate and full account of its 

 habits published in the Encyclopedic Methodique. All subsequent writers appear to have 

 based their descriptions on his observations. No insect is more formidable to man than this 

 little pest, since it attacks the principal basis of his food ; and they are sometimes so nu- 

 merous in a heap of grain, that they destroy it altogether, leaving nothing but the chaff. 

 After the sexes have paired, the female makes a hole in the grain of wheat with her ro- 

 strum, and deposits an egg. These holes are not perpendicular to the surface of the grains, 

 but oblique, or even parallel, and are stopped with a species of gluten of the same color 

 as the corn. Olivier says there is but one to each grain : I, however, have repeatedly 

 found two, one in each lobe, and these larvae as plump and well conditioned as those who 

 had the good fortune of a kernel to themselves. From the egg is hatched in due time a 

 small footless grub (fig. t), which, during its growth, eats out the entire contents of the 

 grain, and, when lodged in the grain, is perfectly sheltered from all injuries from the air, 

 because its excrements serve to close the aperture ; so there is no use in stirring the grain, 

 as nothing can incommode it. It is very white ; has the form of an elongated soft worm, 

 and the body is composed of nine prominent roimded rings : it is nearly a line in length, 

 with a yellow rounded head provided with organs (fig. c) proper for gnawing the grain. 

 When the lar\'a has eaten all the flour, and is arrived at its full growth, it remains in the 

 envelope of the grain, where it is metamorphosed into a nymph (fig. a), of a clear white, 

 and transparent : the proboscis and antennae can readily be distinguished ; but it gives no 

 sign of life, except when disturbed, and then but a slight movement of the abdomen. 

 Eight or ten days after, the perfect insect eats its way out. In general, that which serves 

 as nutriment to insects in their larva state is unsuited to the perfect form. To this the 

 calandra is an exception ; for scarcely has it issued from its nymph state, than it proceeds 

 to pierce the envelope of the grain, to establish itself anew therein. I have frequently 

 watched the perfect insect feeding upon the farina of the grain, having pierced the skin 

 and buried the proboscis to the base. It is often found, however, lodged in the interior of 

 the grain (fig. c) ; and its black color does not announce its recent issuing from its state of 

 nymph, since it is of a straw color at the time when it has just left its sheath : neverthe- 

 less we must doubtless believe that it occasions much less injury in this state, than in that 

 of the larva. 



' The Calandra has no sooner issued from its envelope of nymph, than, like the majority 

 •of insects, it Is in a state of pairing for the reproduction of its species, and this act ever 



