2 MANDIBULATA. COLEOPTERA. 



the head broad, scaly, and armed with two strong jaws : they feed, 

 as before mentioned, exclusively on vegetables, change to pupa in 

 a silken cocoon, and in general appear towards the middle of the 

 spring or beginning of the summer in their perfect states. 



The indigenous genera may be divided into the subjoined 

 families : 



fomnes articulis f minuti, arte, ultimo conico: . 42. CuRCULIONIDjE. 



quatuor. Pa7jA< 

 ( obvii, filiformes : . . 43. Bruchidje. 



(^quatuor antici articulis 5 ; postici4: . . . 44. Salpingid^. 



Family XLIL— CURCULIONID^, Leach. 



Tarsi quadriarticulate : palpi very minute, the apical joint conic: labruni want- 

 ing; rcs^rwm thick, rounded; frequently very long : arafewwo? with from nine 

 to twelve joints, clavate; the hasal joint frequently very much elongated — 

 sometimes as long as the others united, which are mostly placed at a right 

 angle thereto — and subclavate : ivings frequently wanting. 



This extraordinary and natural family of insects is no less 

 distinguished by the singularity of the rostriform anterior portion 

 of the head — the mouth being placed at the apex — than by the 

 amazing number of species which it embraces : the latter present 

 very remarkable forms and striking variety of colours ; the last, in 

 some instances, outvying the most splendid hues found in any 

 other department of nature ; this splendour is produced by small 

 scales, which are scattered over the body, but which are very 

 readily abraded : the indigenous species are generally small, but 

 notwithstanding their minuteness several of them, as hereafter men- 

 tioned, are extremely destructive to grain and other articles of 

 human consumption : they are timid, and M'hen approached contract 

 their antennae and legs, and fall from their position, or, in cases 

 where they are provided with saltatorial hinder femora, leap to a 

 distance; they fly but seldom, and many of them have the elytra 

 soldered together and are destitute of wings : — they all subsist upon 

 vegetables, and there is consequently considerable diversity in their 

 food : in form their larvse are somewhat elongate, linear, with the 

 extremities acute ; with the head scaly, and the body furnished with 

 tubercular projections in lieu of legs ; their food varies considerably, 



