BEETLES, OR COLEOPTERA. 



467 



should be covered with a bit of gauze : the creatures climb up the grass 

 at night, and exhibit their light. 



"The glow-worm shows the matin to be. near, 

 And 'gins to pale his ineffectual fire." — Shakspeare, Hamlet. 



" The chiUing night-dews fall ; away ! retire ! 

 For, see, the glow-worm lights her amorous fire." — White. 



A tribe of beetles called Weevils, which comprise a large number of 

 species, are detrimental to the garden. The larvffi are fleshy grubs 

 without legs, and the beetles themselves have a long snout. One 

 species, Balaninns nucum (fig. 1033), is in some years so numerous that 

 every nut is destroyed. The egg is deposited in the young nut, when 

 the grub eats up the kernel, and then bores a hole through the shell 

 to escape ; it hides itself throughout the winter, and emerges the 

 next year as a perfect beetle. The figure shows the perfect beetle, 

 and the grub eating its way through the shell. 



b ffi^ 



Fig. 1034. — Bruchus 

 pisi. 



Fig. 1035. — Scolytus destructor. 

 Fig. 1033. — Balaninus nucum. 



Another species of weevil, the Bruchus pisi (fig. 1034, a), destroys 

 our peas. The larva {B) lives in the seed, and in some years seed 

 peas (c) injured by it may be often seen in the shops. 



The Otiorhynchus sulcatus is a com.mon beetle, which has done much 

 damage to ferns at the South Kensington Museum, and the 0. picipes is 

 said much to damage young trees. 



Another genus of weevils, the Scolytus, is perhaps the most 

 destructive of all beetles. The large elms for miles around London 

 have been destroyed by the Scolytus destructor, the larvae of which 



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