BEETLES. 59 



SECTION X. XYLOPHAGA. 



Tarsi four-jointed; body oblong; antennae with the basal joint 

 long, and more or less clubbed at the tip ; head not produced into 

 a true rostrum, and partly covered by the thorax. 



FAMILY. Scolytidce. 



This family, the only one in this section, includes the small 

 brown or black beetles which the Germans appropriately name 

 Bark Beetles. They are generally abundant and gregarious, and 

 the larvae form long galleries in the bark or wood of trees. 

 Their numbers make them far more injurious than the larger 

 insects which live on wood,! an ^ i n some seasons whole avenues 

 of elms have been destroyed by Scolytus Destructor, Oliv., which 

 may be considered the type of the family. It is a black beetle 

 about one-sixth of an inch long, with brown elytra, and reddish 

 legs and antennae. Two other species may be noticed for the 

 peculiarity in their antennae. The first is Platypus Cylindrus, 

 Fabr., a long brown beetle, with reddish legs and antennae, about 

 one-sixth of an inch long. The antennae are very short, and ter- 

 minate in an enormous club. It lives in old dry oak wood. 

 Phlwotribus Olece, Fabr., is a cylindrical black species, one-twelfth 

 of an inch long, with reddish legs and ramose antennae. It is very 

 destructive to the olive in the south of Europe. 



SECTION XI. EHYNCHOPHORA. 



Body cylindrical, rarely round ; tarsi four-jointed ; head pro- 

 duced into a rostrum, on the sides of which the antennae are 

 placed ; antennae six- to ten- jointed, often angulated beyond the 

 long scape ; elytra hard, horny, and covering the abdomen. 



The Weevils are a very extensive and easily recognised group, 

 though they vary considerably in structure and appearance. The 

 elytra are frequently of almost stony hardness, perhaps harder 

 than in any other insects. The majority of the species, though 

 considerably varied, are not very remarkable for their size or 

 colour, the Diamond Beetle and its allies excepted. 



FAMILY I. Curculionidce. 



Rostrum straight, with the antennae on the sides, and the 

 small mouth at the extremity ; antennae generally angulated, and 

 often clubbed at the tip. 



