334 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



Parandra hrimnea, the fleshy, cerambycid-like larva of which is an inhabitant of 

 dead oak, ash, and beech wood, is from 0.50 to 0.75 of an inch long, of a shining 

 mahogany-brown color, arid elongate form. It has antennas less than 0.20 of an inch 

 long, and adult structure otherwise anomalous for a longicorn, and has consequently 

 been put by some authors, with other anomalous allies, into the family Spondylidae. 



A large number of beetles of which the head is more or less prolonged anteriorly 

 into a beak, and of which the larvfe have considerable resemblance to one anothei-, 

 were, for a long time, included in one large family, the Curculionida3 ; the popular 

 name for these insects is "weevils." Later the Curculionidse were divided by different 

 authors in various ways into families, the name Curculionidse being retained for the 

 forms having the most typically beak-formed head, while the families Bruchidag, 

 Anthribidse, Brenthidas, and Scolytidae were separated from the rest. Later still, 

 about 1874, Dr. J. L. Le Conte constituted of the weevils, excluding the Bruchidfe, a 

 separate group of Coleoptera, the Rhynchof)hora, which was sub-divided into families. . 

 Dr. Le Conte's definition reads as follows : " Rhynchophorous Coleoptera are those in 



Fig. 375. — a, Unichus pisi ; b, B. rujimanus; c, B. granarius 



which the posterior lateral elements of the head and prothorax coalesce on the median 

 line of the under surface of the body, so as to unite by a single suture." The Bru- 

 chidse, a group of seed-inhabiting weevils, were excluded from the Rhynchophora and 

 placed near the Chrysomelidffi. 



In the following pages the weevils, or old family Curculionidse, will be treated 

 under the families BruchidsB, Anthribidffi, Brenthidae, Scolytidae, and Curculionidse. 



The Beuchid^ consist of rather small, roundish or subquadrate beetles, having the 

 anterior part of the head slightly extended, the nientum jjedunculate, the prosternum 

 reaching the posterior margin of the thorax beneath, the antenna eleven-jointed and 

 thickened toward the tip, and the maxillary palpi four-jointed. The larvas of Bru- 

 cliidse do much damage to the seeds of leguminous plants. The perfect beetles apjaear 

 when the plants are in bloom, lay their eggs, generally one by one, in the tender seeds 

 or upon the young pod. . The larvae, as soon as they hatch from the eggs, bore in the 

 seed, not, however, preventing its growth. Pupation takes place in the seed, and the 

 perfect insect emerges in autumn or the succeeding spring, according to climate and 

 circumstances. Dr. J. L. Le Conte has well said that " as the function of the Ceram- 

 bycidae is to hold the vegetable world in check by destroying woody fibre, the Bru- 



