WEEVILS. 297 



are a few species of these long-snouted beetles •which make for 

 themselves certain pensile habitations of a most elegant form. 

 Two genera of Weevils are remarkable for the beauty of their 

 cocoons, namely, the Hypera and Cionus. 



If the reader should desire to possess specimens of these co- 

 coons, he can not do better than procure some seeds of the com- 

 mon species of Verbascum, say the Great and White Mulleins 

 (Verbascum Thapsus and Lychnitis), and sow them in sandy or 

 gravelly soil. The beetles of the genus Cionus feed on the mul- 

 leins, and when they are about to change into the pupal state, do 

 not trouble themselves to leave the plant upon which they have 

 been feeding. So fond are these beetles of the Verbascum, that 

 Mr. Stephens found on a solitary plant, which was growing in a 

 garden at Eipley, all the five species of the genus. 



During the month of August the larva may be found in the 

 flowers and seeds, and one species burrows into the leaves them- 

 selves, getting between the two membranes, and feeding on the 

 soft green parenchyma. When the larva are about to enter the 

 pupal state, they cease from feeding, and spin for themselves co- 

 coons of a most remarkable shape. The cocoons are very small, 

 being on the average about as large as sweet peas, and nearly as 

 globular. They are constructed of a rather stiff and glutinous 

 thread, which is so wonderfully twined as to form large open 

 meshes of a nearly circular form. 



The cocoon is very firm and elastic, feeling and looking very 

 much like those hollow spheres and cjdinders that artists in hair 

 are so fond of making. The open meshes are so large that the 

 inclosed pupa can be seen through them, so that there is but lit- 

 tle protection from the elements. A very good idea of the gen- 

 eral appearance of the cocoon may be obtained from the toys 

 which are made from nuts by neat-handed school-boys, by the 

 simple process of boring them full of holes until the shell is re- 

 duced to a kind of wooden network with circular meshes. 



All the beetles of the genus Cionus are pretty little creatures, 

 very hard shelled, nearly as globular in form as the cocoon, and 

 marked with dark patches and streaks. 



The cocoons of the genus Hypera are also made with open 

 meshes, and of a similarly stiff thread, but the form is oval in- 

 stead of round. The larva of the Hypera is long and narrow, 

 having its rings or segments very deeply cut, covered with bristle- 

 like hairs, and having some light lines along the back and sides. 



