WEEVILS. 



341 



divisions are comprised a large number of sub-families, into which our space does not admit of 

 our entering, and we must confine ourselves to a brief mention of some of the most interesting species. 

 One of the most important of the sub-families, in its relations to man, are the Calandrinse, or 

 Weevils proper, which include the Calandra granaria, a small species, well known throughout 

 Europe for the devastation it causes in granaries, the females, in the usual manner of Curculionidse, 



BHTNCHOl'HOUUS PALMAUVM. 



laying their minute eggs in little holes previously nibbled by them in grains of corn ; the grub, which 

 soon hatches, rapidly devours the contents, without affecting the whole appearance of the grain, 

 and undergoing its transformation inside, emerges as a winged Beetle in forty or fifty days 

 after the laying of the egg. Many generations succeed each other during the warmer months of 

 the year, and the Beetle thus multiplies indefinitely. An allied species (Calandra oryzat), causes 

 similar injury to stores of rice and maize in India and other tropical regions. These are the 

 minims of the sub-family ; others belonging to the genera Rhynekopkorv* and Macrochirus reach a 



