190 INSECTS AT HOME. 



placing their foreheads against other individuals, and giving a 

 thrust by pushing forward the jaws. They employ tliis process 

 to remove another Beetle from a station which they desire to 

 occupy ; it appears also to be an expression of anger, sometimes 

 two Beetles having an encounter in this way ; and they use the 

 same movement in recommending themselves to the other sex.' 



Our last example of the Weevils is a tiny Beetle, which, 

 though quite as destructive as the Scolytus, is, happily for us, 

 not nearly so plentiful. It is called Tomicus typographicus, 

 and a figure of it is given on Woodcut XX. Fig. 4. This 

 genus is distinguished by the club of the antenna, which is 

 four-jointed and rounded. The present species is blackish, 

 clothed with rather long yellow hair. The thorax is very long, 

 and there is a space between it and the elytra, which are deeply 

 striated and punctated ; the spaces between the striae being 

 convex and smooth. The apex of the elytra is abrupt and 

 rather turned up, and has six distinct teeth, the fourth being 

 the largest. 



This insect attacks the fir, and in some parts of Europe does 

 even worse harm to those trees than the Scolytus does to the 

 elm in this country. The larva makes tunnels under the bark, 

 but, instead of proceeding in a tolerably straight line, as does the 

 larva of Scolytus, it makes a devious tracks which often presents 

 a fanciful resemblance to letters ; hence its name of typo- 

 graphicus, or ' letter-writer.' 



In the pine-producing districts of Germany there is great 

 dread of this Beetle, which is popularly called the Turlc, the 

 tracks left by its larva being known by the name of Wurm- 

 trockniss. So terrible are soinetimes the ravages of this Beetle, 

 that towards the end of the last century more than a million 

 and a half of trees were destroyed by the Tomicus in the Hartz 

 forest alone, without reckoning those that perished in other 

 parts of the country. Thirteen species of this genus are known 

 to inhabit England, and some of them are plentiful. 



