36o 



ZOOLOGY 



Sub-order 3. Pseudotetramera. 



Family Cueculionidae. — The weevils are easily recognised 

 by the prolongation of their head into a snout ; the antennae 



Fio. 203. 



1. Balaninus glandium, magnified. 



2. The same, natural size. 



3. Tlie larva, magnified. 



4. The same, natural size. 



5. Head and snout of the female 



magnified to show the arrange- 

 ment of the antennae, 



6. The same parts of the male. 



are usually bent, and lie partly in a groove at the side of the 

 snout (Fig. 203). The mouth with its appendages is situ- 

 ated at the extremity of this prolongation. Their bodies are 

 often minute and hard; they feign death when disturbed. 

 Their larvae are , white, fleshy, footless grubs, with thick jaws ; 

 before transformation they spin silken cocoons. The number 

 of species is very great, about 10,000. Balaninus glandium 

 lays its eggs in hazel-nuts and acorns ; its larva feeds upon the 

 substance of the nut. 



Family Scolytidae. — This family was formerly sometimes 

 called the Bostrychidae ; it includes beetles of small and incon- 

 spicuous size, whose rounded head is sunk beneath the pro- 

 thorax, which is large, and forms almost half the body. The 

 larvae resemble those of the preceding family ; they have no 

 legs, but their skin is ridged, and bears short hairs. These 

 beetles and their larvae live in societies, boring passages in the 

 wood of trees, on which they feed. In this way incalculable 

 damage is done to forest trees, etc., especially to Conifers. The 

 female lays her eggs in recesses of the passage she has made. 



