THE COEN WEEVILS. 



475 



Another species of Weevil, the GEASS WEEVIL or Lisette (Ehynchites Bacchus] com- 

 mits terrible devastations among the growing vines, sometimes stripping the bushes of 

 their leaves, which it rolls up and lines with silk. 



The most brilliant of the Weevils are to be found in the typical family Curculionida?, 

 to which belong the well-known Diamond Beetles, in such request as objects for the 

 microscope. Magnificent, however, as are these insects, some of our common little field 

 Weevils, which may be found abundantly on peas, nettles, and other vegetables, yield to 

 them not a single jot, when properly magnified and illuminated, the successive rows of 

 glittering scales with their numerous facets being quite as splendid as the scale-lined pits 

 which cover the elytra of the Diamond Beetle. 



The maggots that are so frequently found in nuts, and which leave so black and bitter 

 a deposit behind them that the person who has unfortunately tested a maggot-eaten nut 



Xendcerus semiluctutisus. 

 'Eupholus Linnei. 



Balaninus probcscideu*. 



is forcibly reminded of the Dead Sea apple, with its inviting exterior and bitter dusty 

 contents, also belong to the Weevils, and are the larves of the NUT WEEVIL (Balaninus 

 nucum). All the members of this genus are remarkable for the extraordinary length of 

 the snout, at the extremity of which are placed the small but powerful jaws. An 

 example of a foreign species, a native of Cayenne, is shown in the illustration, and is 

 given in order to show the inordinate length of the snout. 



While the nut is yet soft and undeveloped, the female Weevil bores a hole at the 

 base of the fruit, deposits an egg therein, and makes the best of her way to another nut, 

 which she treats in a similar manner. As the nut increases, the young grub feeds on the . 

 interior of the nut, which is at first soft and milky, so as to suit its infant needs, and by 

 degrees hardens into a fruity substance more fit for it after its jaws and digestive organs 

 have acquired strength. After it has attained its full growth, it gnaws a round hole 

 through the shell of the nut, allows itself to drop to the ground, buries itself below 

 the surface, and in the ensuing autumn emerges in the perfect form. 



The common COKN WEEVIL (Calandra granarid) is perhaps the most destructive of 

 its tribe, its depredations far exceeding those of the insects that destroy nuts, acorns, 

 apples, cherries, flowers, and other vegetables. This pest of corn-dealers is of very small 

 size, not larger than the capital letter at the beginning of this sentence, and is therefore 

 able to make its way through very small crevices. Like the preceding species, it p'asses 

 its larval existence within the grain on which it feeds devours the whole of the interior. 



