RHYNCOPHORJE, OR WEEVIL TRIBE. 



131 



as the Blistering-fly, which is of a shining green metallic hue; this 

 insect is most abundant in Spain, but appears about midsummer 

 in France, and is found in great numbers on the ash and lilac, 

 of which it consumes the leaves. Its larva lives in the earth, 

 and feeds upon the roots of vegetables. 



655. 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 insect is 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 family, that of RHYNCOPHORJE, or 

 the Weevil tribe, is distinguished by the prolongation of the 

 anterior part of the head into a kind of muzzle (Fig. 352, D). 

 The number of species in this family is very great ; nearly four 

 thousand have been already collected. Many of them are 

 extremely destructive ; especially the Calandra c/ranaria, which 

 commits great havoc in granaries, both in its larva and perfect 

 states. The accompanying figure exhibits the history of the 



development of the 

 Balaninus nucum, or 

 Nut- Weevil, whose 

 larva is so common- 

 ly found in nuts, fil- 

 berts, &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 comes forth 



FIG. 352. A, a branch of the filbert tree; a, a healed f .1 f PP d a 



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



weevil ; 6, extremity of the nut ; c, exit hole of the upon the kernel in 

 grub ; B, the grub of the nut- weevil ; c, the pupa of the , . . . . . , , 1 

 same ; D, the perfect insect (Balaninus nucum). which it IS imbedded ; 



and, when about to 

 change its state, it bores through the shell, and escapes, leaving 



K 2 



