166 INSECTS AT HOJVIE. 



Oui next example of this family is Rhync}. <<.t Ba>'--'hus. re- 

 presented on Woodcut XVII. Fig. 2. 



The generic name Rhynchites is taken from t: •? Greek, and 

 signifies long-nosed, or, to be more accurate but ?ess elegant, 

 ' nosey,' and is given to it on account of the shape of the snout 

 or beak, which is much more lengthened than in c-itber of ihe 

 preceding Weevils, and forms one of the principal characters of 

 the genus. The other characteristics are, that tho beak is 

 more or less widened at the end, that the head is not Din-rowed 

 into a neck behind the eyes, and that the antennae have eleven 

 joints. The form of the antennae is shown at Fig. 6, th.at of the 

 tarsus at e, the maxillary palpus at j, and the labium at It. 

 There are seventeen British species belonging to this genus. 



Many of the insects of this genus are remai'kable for their 

 beauty, their bodies being of all imaginable brilliant colours, 

 and having their brilliancy increased by their metallic gloss. 

 This species is certainly not the least handsome among its 

 splendid brethren, its colour being a rich -red, almost coppery- 

 gold, on which is a long soft down. The thorax is deeply 

 punctured, and the elytra, which are rounded at their tips and 

 rather separated from each other, are as of burnished-copper, 

 sometimes taking a pin-plish hue. Their surface is covered 

 with very deep and bold punctures, and with a vast number of 

 wrinkles running transversely against them. There is much 

 variation in the colour of this splendid Beetle, which is some- 

 times greenish and sometimes blue ; but, as is the case with 

 many of such Beetles, the exact hue depends very much on 

 the angle at which the light is reflected from them to the eye, 

 green changing to blue, then to purple, and purple to gold, 

 as the insect is turned to one side or the other. 



It is a rare insect, but has been taken in Darenth Wood. It 

 has also been taken plentifully near Crayford, in Kent, on the 

 •blackthorn {Prunus spinosus). 



There is an enormous genus of Weevils, consisting of very 

 itiny species, about as large and somewhat the shape of a note 

 of admiration (!) as here given. Their bodies look very much 

 like pears, the stalk of the fruit representing the beak of the 

 .insect. In consequence of this resemblance they have received 

 the .generic name of Apion, which is a Greek word signifying 



