ORDER COLEOPTERA: BEETLES 239 



(a) BruchidcB, or pea-weevils — the larvae live in seeds, and 

 Bruchus pisi and fabi are notorious pests of peas and beans. 

 The adults of these are small plump beetles with the head 

 produced into a broad beak, the hind femora more or less 

 swollen, and the tip of the abdomen not covered by the 

 elytra ; the larvse are fat maggots without legs (except when 

 first hatched), and with a pair of broad serrated teeth on 

 the pronotum. (b) Chrysomelidm — an enormous family of 

 small beetles destructive to plants ; they are oval in shape, 

 convex, and often of a bright metallic colour ; the larvae of 

 some species do much damage to certain "roof-crops, 

 among these is the larva of the notorious Colorado potato- 

 beetle (Fig. 107). 



Fra. 107.— Colorado Beetle, enlarged. FiQ. 108.— C(rfaji*a, much enlarged. 



Rhynchophora. This enormous suborder includes the 

 true weevils, most of which can be recognised by their long 

 snout : they are mostly wood-borers and plant-eaters, but 

 some are well known as destructive to stored grain — e.g. 

 certain species of the genus Calandra (Fig. 108). 



Order Strepsiptera. 

 (Gr. arpe^ = twisted, and vreptiv = wing.) 



Minute insects, of which the females are degraded, wingless, and 

 legless endoparasites of certain Hymenoptera and Hemiptera. The 

 short-lived males are active and well endowed, possessing large hind 

 wings, which have no cross-veins, and vestigial front wings. The larvae 

 are parasitic in the larvae of their mother's host. The Strepsiptera 

 art now very commonly classed with the beetles {Co/eoptera). 



