106 ZOOLOGY. 



which in most species are bent like a knee, and are 

 always thickened at the tip, are attached to the front 

 end, middle, or hinder end of the proboscis. The 

 wing-covers usually extend to the tip of the abdomen, 

 and clasp it in several species. Feet four-jointed. 

 Weevils are mostly sluggish ; many kinds do not fly 

 at all ; others only during the breeding season. When 

 disturbed they let themselves fall to the ground as if 

 dead. Almost without exception the females lay their 

 eggs within plants, boring a hole by means of their 

 proboscis, and shoving in the egg. The whitish larvae 

 (Fig. 66) are more or less curved and limbless, with 

 hard brownish heads. 



The Seed Beetles (Bruchus) have a very short snout. 

 Body short, thick-set, almost four-cornered. The 

 wing-covers leave the hinder part of the body exposed. 

 The female lays her eggs in the seeds of leguminous 

 plants. The larva hollows out one or several, becoming 

 a pupa in the one last inhabited. Here belong the 

 Pea Beetle (B. pisi), the two Bean Beetles {B. rufimanus 



Fi&. 11. — The Bean Beetle (^Bruchus rufimanus) and beaus gnawed by it. 



and B. granarius), of which the last-named also lives 

 in vetches and chickling peas, and the Lentil Beetle 

 {B. lentis). The Pea Beetle (B. pisi) is black, with 

 brown hairy covering flecked with white. Like all 

 other species of seed beetle, it becomes a pupa in the 

 last seed inhabited by the larva, and the pupa changes 



