

RHYNCHOPHORA, OR WEEVIL TRIBE. 



133 



they attach themselves to the bodies of the wild Bees, which visit 

 these flowers in search of honey, and are by them conveyed to 

 their nests, where they feed upon the larvae of the Bee. When 

 full grown, the larva is a large, black, soft grub. The larvae of 

 some other species are also parasitic in their habits, always 

 selecting the progeny of Bees and Wasps for their attacks ; the 

 majority, however, live in rotten wood or beneath the bark of 

 trees. 



715. Section III. TETRAMERA. All the Beetles of this 

 group, likewise, consisting of those which have four joints in 

 all the tarsi, are vegetable feeders. The perfect insects are 

 found upon the flowers and leaves of plants ; the larvae are often 

 produced in their interior ; and, when thus hatched in the midst 

 of their food, their legs are commonly very imperfect. Very 

 often the true legs are almost entirely absent, and their place 

 supplied by fleshy tubercles. The first tribe, that of the 

 KHYNCHOPHORA, or the Weevil tribe, is distinguished by the 

 prolongation of the anterior part of the head into a kind of muz- 

 zle (Fig. 452, D). The number of species in this family is very 



great. Many of them 

 are extremely de- 

 structive ; especially 

 the Calandra grana- 

 ria, which commits 

 great havoc in gran- 

 aries, both in its larva 

 and perfect states. 

 The accompanying 

 figure exhibits the 

 history of the develop- 

 ment of the Balani- 



Fio. 452.-A, a brunch of the filbert tree; a, a healed , nUCUm Or Nut- 

 wound caused by the introduction of the egg of the nut- 



weevil ; b, extremity of the nut ; c, exit hole of the Weevil, whose larva 



grub ; B, the grub of the nut-weevil ; c, tfie pupa of the . i r j 



banie ; D, the perfect insect (Balaninus nucum). 1S SO COmmonly lOUnd 



in nuts, filberts, &c. 



The egg is introduced by the parent when the nut is young and 

 soft ; and the wound made by it heals over. The larva, when it 



VOL. II. L 



