1838. HOUSE—No. 72. 79 
tinct mandibles or jaws ; last joint but one of the feet divided into 
two lobes. 
Brenthus septentrionis passes though all its metamorphoses in the 
trunks of trees, under the bark of which the perfect insect is, in 
summer, frequently found. The female perforates the bark with her 
slender beak, and deposits an egg in the hole thus made. The 
larve penetrate into the solid wood forming cylindrical passages, 
which they keep clear by constantly thrusting behind them and out 
of the hole their castings, as fine as saw-dust. A full grown larva 
measures above an inch in Jength. It is of a whitish color, and is 
very much elongated and cylindrical ; each of the first three seg- 
ments is furnished beneath with a pair of legs, and there is a fleshy 
prop or proleg beneath the hinder extremity of the body ; the last 
segment is dark chestnut colored, of a horny consistence, and hol- 
lowed above so as to forma kind of gouge or seoop, the edges of 
which are furnished with little notches or teeth. It is by means of 
this singular scoop that the larva shovels the minute grains of wood 
or castings out of the orifice of its burrow. On the dorsal segments 
of the pupa are transverse rows of minute spines or teeth, and the 
tail is surmounted by two distinct spines much larger than the others ; 
the beak is inflexed under the breast. 
In the genus Curculio the antenne are geniculated or bent at right 
angles-in the middle, the first joint being very long, inserted near 
the mouth, and usually received into a groove-at the side of the ros- 
trum, which is short and thick ; the body is ovate, convex, narrower 
before, and in most species ornamented with minute scales; the 
antenne are situated near the extremity of the rostrum, and are 
composed of eleven joints, the three last of which are united into a 
mass or club.—The weevil tribes use their snouts for preparing the 
holes in vegetable substances and fruits in which their eggs are de- 
posited.. 
Curculio hilaris lives in the solid wood of the oak. The perfect 
insect is developed in May, and may then be found on the trunks 
of trees sub copula. 
The antenne in the genus Rhynchenus resemble those of curcu- 
lio, are eleven-jointed, but inserted near the middle of the rostrum, 
which is long and slender ; the body is more elongated than in cur- 
culto. 
