INSECTS : TUEIR EAES AND EYES. 185 



illusion in the appearance : it seems as if tlic dividing 

 point of the joints were, as I have just said, at the ter- 

 mination of tlie oval, but when wc look closely Ave see 

 that the snmmit of each oval is, as it were, cut off by a 

 line, and by comparing the basal joints with the others, 

 we see that this line is the real division, that the snm- 

 mit of the oval really forms the bottom of the sncceed- 

 ing joint, and that the constricted part is no articula- 

 tion at all. The iirst, or basal joint (called the scajyiis), 

 and the second (called the pedicella), differ in form 

 from the rest, here but slightly, but often considerably. 

 The whole of the remaining joints are together termed 

 the davola. 



You may see a considerable diversity of figure and 

 of aspect generally in this tiny Weevil, which may bo 

 accepted as a representative of a great family of 

 Beetles, the CurouUonidce. The manner of their in- 

 sertion strikes us at first sight as peculiar, as is in fact 

 the aspect of the whole head. Instead of a thick sub- 

 stantial solid front, with powerful widely-gaping jaws, 

 such as we saw in the Carabus, here projects from be- 

 tween the eyes a long rod-like proboscis, as long as the 

 whole animal besides, curving downwards, and carry- 

 ing at its very extremity a minute mouth, with all the 

 proper apparatus of lips, jaws, and palpi. Moreover, 

 the antennm are planted on the two sides of this beak, 

 about its mid-length ; and they are curiously elbowed, 

 each projecting horizontally at a right angle to the 

 beak for a considerable distance, and then with a sharp 

 angle becoming parallel to it for the remainder of their 

 length. So that, supposing the terminal half of the 

 beai to be broken off just behind the insertion of the 

 antennm, the whole would compose the letter T. Now, 



