Classification of Insects: Colcoptera. 



171 



trunks of old trees. The timber-beetles, so destructive in ship- 

 yards, belong to this division. The foregoing beetles, although 

 differing greatly in form and habits t agree in one character, viz., 

 their feet are five-jointed, while those that follow are four-jointed. 



679. (e.) The Rhi/)ichophoridce, or weevils, mostly of very small size, 

 so destructive to grains, and upon trees, boring into the bark, leaves, 

 buds, fruit, and seeds, and feeding upon the juices and soft parts 

 therein. They .are day-insects, and love to come out in the sun- 

 shine. Some fly well, but others have no wings, and generally they 

 are slow and timid in their motions. The weevils are divided into 

 several great families, and include an immense number of species. 



680. (/.) The ScolytidcR, or cylindrical bark-beetles, mostly very 

 small, but often doing the most serious injuries, especially in pine 

 and spruce forests, by mining under the bark, and boring galleries 

 in the new wood. 



681. ((jr.) The Bostrichidce formerly classed with the preceding, 

 but now separately. They are often of large size, and especially in 

 tropical countries, they may prove very destructive. Their larvae 

 bore galleries in the solid wood of living trees. 



94 Botttrichun typo- 95. Burrows of the Bostrichttt typngrnphicus under the 

 praphic.us (greatly Bark of the Spruce, with the Insects of the Natural 



enlarged/. Size. 



682. Two nearly allied species of the Bostrychus have proved very 

 destructive to spruce forests in Europe. They are always found 

 more or less under the bark of decaying trees, but when the condi- 



