552 



ARTICULATA. 



pojin Kpceics is the Ptjrochroa ruhcns, wliich is found about liedgo-bauks. A similar species, P. 

 /Idhflltita, is coiinnon in this country. In the Saljnwjidce, the front of the head is produced 



into a short snout. 



TIIK ATRACIIELIA. 



These arc generally black, or of dull colors, nocturnal in their habits, and slow in their motions, 



usually crawling upon the ground in obscure situations. 

 A few arc found upon trees and plants, and these, in their 

 structure, evidently approach the preceding tribe. A 

 European example of this group is furnished by the com- 

 mon Blaps mortisaga, which bears the English name of 

 Churchyard Beetle, These insects are generally found 

 in dark and dirty places about houses, in cellars, and 

 similar situations. In Europe the meeting of this insect 

 in a house is considered a prestige of death. Another 

 species is the Tcnebrio molitor, common in Europe and 

 this country, of which the larva, found in flour, meal, etc. 

 is well known as the Mcal-Wonii. It is common in mills, 

 meal-tubs, granaries, and is destructive to sea-biscuit on 

 shipboard. Multitudes are raised in Europe to feed night- 

 ingales and other cage-birds. Other species of Tenehrio 

 ^^ask&»'-„«^c^-- li^^ under the bark of trees, and in decaying vegetable mat- 



THE TENEBKio MOLiTOB. tcr ; but Comparatively few are found in this country. 



TUii CUUFCaYAUD BEETLE. 



THE TETRAMERA. 



Tliis term, derived from the Greek tetra, four, and mera, divisions, includes a great number 

 of beetles, which have only four apparent joints in all the tarsi ; they rarely attain great size, and 

 many are very minute ; the colors are often brilliant and beautiful. 



THE RnYNCHOPHORA. 



This term, from the Greek rhynchos, a snout, and phero, to bear, are distinguished by having the 



front of the head produced into a snout or ros- 

 trum, at the extremity of which the mouth is 

 situated. The larva? are soft, footless grubs, 

 which usually live in the interior of the stems, 

 fruits, and seeds of plants, to which their ravages 

 are often very injurious. Among these the 

 CoRN-^yEEVIL, Calandra granaria, a European 

 species, introduced into and spread over this coun- 

 try, holds the most conspicuous place, as its larva 

 frequently causes great damage in granaries. One 

 of the commonest European species is the Nut- 

 Weevil, Balaiiinus iiucum, the parent of the 

 little white grubs so frequently met with in 

 filberts and other nuts. This insect has a very 

 long rostrum, and by means of this, the female is 

 said to eat a small hole in the young nut while 

 its integuments are still soft. Here she deposits 

 an egg, and the larva when hatched eats its way into the interior of the kernel, where it con- 

 tinues to reside until it has arrived at maturity. It then eats its way out of the nut, and falls to 

 the ground, into which it burrows, and there undergoes its transformation to the pupa state, 

 which, however, does not take place until the commencement of the second summer. The his- 

 tory of the other species of the tribe appears to be very similar, although many pass to the pupa 



THE PALM-WEEVIL. 



