Class 3. Insecta. Order 4. Coleoptera. 267 



generally bvilky and mucli ai-olied, tlie liead more or less covered by tlie pro- 

 thorax, the antenna; shorter than the body, the colouring bright ; but there are 

 also more elongate forms resembling the Cerambycidse (Donacia). The larvae 

 are mostly coloured, with eyes and well- developed limbs ; most of them live upon 

 leaves. 



10. Weevils (Curculionidse ; genus CttrcwHo, etc.) : tarsi like those of the 

 OerambycidsB. They are usually small with head prolonged in front into 

 a shorter or longer probosoiform process, at the tip of which are the small but 

 well-developed mouth-parts. The antennae are clavate and usually geniculate, 

 with a long peduncle. The elytra bend over the edge of the abdomen ; the wings 

 are not infrequently absent; the exoskeleton usxially veiy hard. The larvaa are 

 apodous, curved, and, with the exception of the brown head, whitish, and 

 "usually blind. Both larvse and adults are phytophagous (eating leaves, bark, 

 wood, roots), the former are almost always hidden. Many genera and species in 

 Britain. Closely allied are the Tomicidse, small cylindrical forms with short 

 liead and no proboscis (this is the most important difference between the 

 Tomicidee and the Ciu-culionidse), short geniculate antennae with thick clubs ; 

 ■eyes reniform ; the larvae like those of the weevils.* Before laying the eggs the 

 female usually gnaws a longer or shorter passage, at the junction of the wood 

 and bark, in a tree which is either sickly or has recently died, but is still fairly 

 rich in sap ; rarely is a healthy tree bored. A number of eggs is laid along the 

 sides of this tunnel, each in a small depression ; and when the laiwa hatches 

 it proceeds to make for itself a tunnel, which is gradually lengthened and 

 widened as the ci-eature increases in size ; the larval passages branch ofE almost 

 directly at right angles to the original one, and, like it, run along at the 

 junction of the wood and bark. There are all kinds of deviations from this 

 typical arrangement in the diiferent foi-ms. To the Tomicidae belong some of 

 the worst enemies of forestry (especially pine trees), Tomicus typographus (the 

 Printer), and many others, which may do an enoi-mous amoimt of harm in 

 the com-se of a short time if some accident, e.g., wi'eckage by wind, afEords a 

 quantity of suitable brood material, enabling the pests to increase very rapidly. 

 Their destractiveness is due less to their normal breeding than to the fact that 

 if they are once present in large numbers they will also lay theu' eggs in sound 

 trees ; moreover the adults of some species are injurious, in that they eat young 

 buds {Hylesinus piniperda), gnaw the roots of yoimg plants, and so on. 



11. Ladybirds (Coccmellidx) have apparently only thi-ee joints in each 

 tarsus, but actually four-, of which the penultimate is very short (trinierous). 

 They are small, often almost hemispherical, or somewhat ovate ; the head is 

 small, with short clavate antennae, and sunk into the prothorax ; the legs are 

 short. Lai-vse and imagines both resemble those of the ChrysomelidaB, but both 

 :are predaoeous, feeding upon Aphides,. 



Order 5. Hymenoptera. 



The Hymenoptera are holometabolous witli biting 

 mouth-parts and four membranous wings. The head is 

 short and broad, and deeply constricted off from from the prothorax, 



* The Tomicidse are not to be confounded with the Death-watch (Anolium) . The 

 latter possesses a body similar in form and also gnaws wood, but it belongs to quite 

 a different family and is easily distinguished by its round eyes, by the antennae only 

 slightly thickened at the tip, and by the possession of pentamerous tarsi ; the larvse 

 have legs (small and like those of the Scarabseidae) and eat irregular labyrinthine 

 tunnels in dead, dry wood, e.g., in furniture, which is often destroyed by them. 



