COLEOPTERA. 381 



rax as long as the elytra and punctured. Its larva, known by the name of 

 weevil (genre}, is the destroyer of our granaries. 



C. oryzcB. Similar to the preceding, but with two fulvous spots on each 

 elytron. It attacks rice. 



C. palmar Jim. Length an inch and a half; club of the antennae truncated ; 

 entirely black, with silky hairs at the extremity of the proboscis. It lives on 

 the pith of the palms of South America. The inhabitants of that country 

 consider its larva, called the verpalmiste, as a great delicacy. 



There are several subgenera. 



FAMILY II. 

 XYLOPHAGI*. 



IN our second family of tetramerous Coleoptera, we find the head termi- 

 nating as usual, without any remarkable projection, in the form of a proboscis 

 or snout. The antennae are thicker near the extremity, or perfoliate at base, 

 always short, and consist of less than eleven joints in a great number. The 

 joints of the tarsi are usually entire, the penultimate being sometimes widened, 

 and cordiform in others ; in this case the antennae always terminate in a club, 

 either solid and ovoid, or trifoliate, and the palpi are small and conical. 



These insects mostly live in wood which is perforated and channelled in 

 various directions by their larvae. When they happen to abound in forests, 

 those of pines and firs particularly, they destroy in a few years immense nuniT 

 bers of trees, which are rendered useless for any purpose of art. Others do 

 great injury to the olive, and some again feed on mushrooms. 



We will divide this family into three sections. 



1. Those in which the antennae are composed of ten joints at most, some- 

 times terminating in a stout club, most commonly solid, and sometimes con- 

 sisting of three elongated leaflets; and at others forming a cylindrical and 

 perfoliate club from their base, and in which the palpi are conical. The ante- 

 rior legs of the greater number are dentated and armed with a stout hook, and 

 the tarsi, of which the penultimate joint is frequently cordiform or bilobate, 

 are susceptible of being flexed on them. 



Some have very small palpi, the body convex and rounded above, or almost 

 ovoid, the head globular and plunged into the thorax, and the antenna? solid or 

 trilamellate, and preceded by five joints at least. 



These Xylophagi form the genus 



SCOLYTUS, Geoflroy. 



In Scolytus properly so called, the antennae are straight, beardless, and 

 inserted close to the inner margin of the eyes, which are narrow, elongated, 

 and vertical. 



* Wood-eaters. 



