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CHAPTER XII. 



DECEMBER. 



A SHORT account of the devastation caused by some insects 

 to our trees, fruit, etc., with the benefits we derive from others, 

 may not be uninteresting during this month of comparative 

 inactivity. Many Coleopterous larvae feed on the seeds of 

 plants : one species of Weevil, Balaninus nucum, destroys the 

 nut ; Bruchus granarius lives in the pea, and all the species 

 of the genus inhabit seeds ; the genus Apion has the same 

 taste. Apion frumentarium is known in the larvae state as 

 the red Corn-worm ; it consumes the farinaceous portion 

 of the corn, whilst leaving the husk untouched, thus 

 causing great destruction in granaries. A long list might 

 be made of Curculionidw, which are injurious to seeds 

 of different kinds ; and the genera Balaninus and Antho- 



