152 



INSECTS. 



PALM-WEEVIL (nat. size 



species, but belong to a subfamily (the Calandrince), which includes a number of 

 the largest tropical weevils, such as the palm-weevil (Rhynchophorws palmarum). 



The Scolytidce and two other small families, the 

 Brenthidce and Anthribidce, are associated with the 

 weevils in the tribe Rhynchophora. The Scolytidce 

 are little beetles which live under bark, and often 

 prove very injurious to trees. They have four 

 jointed tarsi, clubbed antennae, and the head pro- 

 duced in front into a short muzzle. The females 

 lay their eggs along the sides of galleries which 

 they burrow out under the bark ; the larvae when 

 hatched make tracks at right angles to the mother- 

 galleries, and thus form curious and characteristic 

 patterns. 



The Cerambycidce, or Longicorns have in most 

 cases a characteristic appearance by which they may 

 be easily recognised, though, owing to a great variety 

 in their form and structure, the family as a whole 

 is not easily defined. Thus the great length of the 

 antennae to which these beetles owe their name is not always a distin- 

 guishing feature, for in many genera the antennae are much shorter than 

 the body. The Longicorns resemble the Rhynchophora in having the first 

 three joints of the tarsi furnished underneath with a brush-like covering of 

 hairs, and the fourth joint very small and hidden between the lobes of the 

 third ; but they are distinguished from that tribe by the fact that the epimera 

 of the prothorax do not meet, 

 while the head, though some- 

 times produced into a short 

 muzzle, is never prolonged in 

 the form of a beak. The larvae 

 all have a strong family like- 

 ness, and are quite unlike those 

 of the Chrysomelidce. They 

 are of a dirty-white or pale 

 yellow colour, with a rather 

 soft skin, and in general form 

 most resemble the larvae of 

 Buprestidce. These larvae all 

 live in the interior of plants; 

 some feeding just under the 

 bark, while the great majority 

 bore tunnels in the woody tissue, or live exclusively in the pith. The males have as 

 a rule longer antennae than the females, and may often be distinguished by the 

 larger size of the eyes, jaws, or prothorax, or the greater length of the legs. The 

 females are provided with a flexible ovipositor, which can be protruded some distance 

 beyond the end of the body. In the subfamily Prion in ce the anterior coxae are 



Hylotrupes bajulus, with larva (nat. size). 



