'246 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Food of various species of weevils. 



tinous humour which flows from its pores. This 

 case, however, would be too harsh and coarse 

 for the body of the creature, and therefore it 

 serves only for the covering, to defend it from 

 external injuries; the animal spinning one of 

 pure and incomparably fine silk, of a beautiful 

 pearl colour, within it, which covers its whole 

 body. Having lain some time in this case, it 

 throws off its outer skin, and becomes an oblong 

 nymph or chrysalis, in which a careful eye may 

 trace the foim of the fly into which it is to be 

 transformed. This nymph makes its way about 

 half out of the shell, and remains in this condi- 

 tion, but without further life or motion, till the 

 perfect fly comes out at a slit in the back. 



WEEVILS. 



ONE division of the weevils feed on trees and 

 shrubs, inserting their beak into the tender 

 branches, and by these means extracting their 

 juices. Another division feed solely on plants. 

 Several live on grain, wood, and on some of the 

 species of fungi, and a few under the surface of 

 the earth. 



The corn weevil is of a black-brown colour, 

 and scarcely more than a tenth of an inch in 

 length. Its snout is long and small; and the 

 thorax is punctured, and nearly as long as the 

 abdomen. 



