288 FHE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
One of the largest and 
most famous of these in- 
sects is the DIAMOND- 
BEETLE of Brazil, the scales 
from whose wing-cases are 
so frequently mounted as 
microscopic objects. When 
viewed through a_ good 
instrument under a power- 
ful light, the beauty of 
these scales is simply in- 
describable. All that one 
can say of them is that 
they seem to be composed 
of diamonds, rubies, 
topazes, and emeralds 
massed together in rich 
profusion, while diamonds 
are transformed into rubies, 
rubies into topazes, and 
Photo by L. He Foutel) (New York : 
HARLEQUIN BEETLE topazes into emeralds at 
every change of light. 
The OSIER-WEEVIL, a 
black-and-white species about three-eighths of an inch long, is found on osiers in Great Britain, 
the grub boring galleries in the stems, and often causing considerable damage. The well-known 
CORN-WEEVIL is still more destructive in granaries, the walls of which are often completely 
blackened by its crawling multitudes. The grub lives inside the grain, eating out the whole 
of the interior, and a single pair of the weevils are said to be capable of producing a family of 
more than 6,000 individuals in the course of a single season. The RICE-WEEVIL is equally 
destructive to rice, and may be recognised by the two red spots on each wing-case. 
The famous “GRU-GRU” of the West Indies, which is regarded as so great a dainty both 
by the negroes and by many of the white colonists, is the grub of the PALM-AWEEVIL. It 
lives in the stems of palm-trees, and also in those of sugar-canes, causing a great deal of 
mischief by its burrowings. When fully fed, it constructs a cocoon by tearing off strips of 
bark and weaving them neatly together. The SUGAR-WEEVIL is still more troublesome, feeding 
upon the juice of the sugar-cane, and affecting the entire plant in such a manner that sugar 
Notice the enormous length of the front legs 
can no longer be manufactured from it. 
‘“Bad” nuts are also due to one of 
these insects, the common NUT-WEEVIL, 
which introduces its egg into the kernel | ‘ 
during the earlier stages of its development. ™. as 
When the grub hatches, it proceeds to de- 
vour the kernel, leaving a quantity of bad- 
flavoured “‘frass” behind it, while the shell 
is left untouched until the perfect insect | of 
emerges. An allied species attacks acorns 
in a similar manner. 
Among the finest and largest of all 
beetles are many of those belonging to the y ieee ae — = a J 
‘ oto by F. Edwards olesborne 
great Long-horn group, of which the com- JUMPING-BEETLE, ALLIED TO THE 
mon BRITISH MUSK-BEETLE is a familiar TURNIP_FLEA 
example. This insect owes both its popular It is about one-tenth of an inch in length 
