COLEOPTERA. 



fragments of earth. The " apple -blossom weevil" (Anthonomus pomorum) is 

 another species which, on account of its injurious habits, deserves some notice. It 



NUT-WEEVIL AND ITS LARVA. 



PEAR-BLOSSOM WEEVIL, WITH LARVA AND 



pupa (enlarged). 



is about a quarter of an inch long, of a 

 greyish brown colour, with an oblique 

 white band on the elytra, and three 

 whitish lines on the thorax. The female 

 deposits her eggs in the unopened flower- 

 buds of the apple, and the larva by feeding 

 on the stamens and pistil causes the bud 

 to wither and die. In about fifteen days, 



the larva attains its full size, changing then to a pupa within the bud, and the 



beetle appears about eight days later and escapes through an opening which it 



makes in the side. A closely allied species 



(A pyri) proves injurious in the same way 



to pear blossoms. The cabbage -gall weevil 



(Ceuthorrhynchus sulcicollis) and certain species 



of Baridius attack cruciferous plants ; the 



larvae of the former live inside galls which 



they raise on the roots of cabbages and turnips, 



while those of Baridius may be found living in 



the lower part of the stem. The grain-weevils, 



which are most numerous in tropical countries, 



are represented in Britain by two almost cosmopolitan species, the corn-weevil 



{Sitophilus granarius), and the rice-weevil (S. oryzce). These are both small 



apple-blossom weevil (nat, size 

 and enlarged). 



1, Ceuthorrhynchus sulcicollis ; 2, C. assimilis ; 3, Baridius chloris ; 4, B. cuprirostris. 

 (The beetles all enlarged.) 



