72 OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



The great majority of these beetles are fruit and nut-eaters. The- 

 beak is used to drill the holes in which the eggs are placed. The larvae 

 are fat, white, thin-skinned and wrinkled grubs, without feet or prolegs- 



except in one small and peculiar group, the Br3nthians, which are 



wood borers. They are usually in a more or less curved position from 

 which some species, like the Apple-curculio, can 

 never straighten themselves. Some, when full 

 fed, work their way out of the fruit or nuts and 

 drop to the ground, into which the burrow to 

 transform ; others change where they have fed. 



Among the more important families are the Fruit 

 and Nut weevils (OUBCULTONIDJE), the Rice weev- 

 ils and " Bill bugs " ( CALANDRID^; ), and the Leaf- 

 rollers ( ATTALABJDJE). 



In the amount and value of the products de- 

 stroyed by it, the Peach or Plum curculio (Cono- 



Larva and papa of Apple __ .. 



cnrcuiio.--AfterRiiey. trachelus nenuphar, Herbst) may well head the list 

 of the pernicious species. Its characters and habits are so well known 

 that it is not necessary to recapitulate them here. 



In some parts of the country this species is rivaled in the injury 

 done to stone fruits by a slightly larger, smoother species called the* 

 Plum Gouger (Cocoturus scutellaris Lee.) The Apple curculio (Antho- 

 nomus quadrigibbus, Say), represented in Fig. 30, breeds in the fruit and 

 passes its transformations without leaving it. The Nut weevils are 

 nearly all included in the genus Balininus. They are smooth, oval bee- 

 tles of an ochreous-drab color, with a very long, slender, dark brown 

 beak, with which they drill holes in the green nuts for the reception of 

 their eggs. 



The principal genus of the CALA.NDRID^ is Sphenophorus, in which 

 are found the Corn Bill-bugs which often do so much injury to Indian 

 corn by boring the roots and lower part of the stalk. The Eice weevil 

 fCalandra oryzal, Linn.) is injurious to stored rice and other grain in the 

 Southern States. The small beetles composing the family Attalabidto 

 breed on the leaves of Oak, Rhus and other trees. After placing an egg 

 a portion of the leaf is rolled into a knapsack-like case, in which the 

 larva develops, feeding on the partially withered portions of the en- 

 closed leaf. 



The Bark-beetles (SCOLYTID^E) are small, hard, cylindrical insects 

 of a shining black or brown color, the abdomen appearing as though 

 cut off obliquely behind, encircled by a ring of little points or teeth. 

 The antennae are very short and knobbed at the tip. The larvae are 

 much like those of curculios, but have stronger jaws to adapt them for 



