102 THE OLIVE 



very close together. It is entirely black and sparsely sprinkled 

 with whitish hair, and is abont half an inch in lensfth. 



The third curculion, the Mecinus Circulatus has the antenncT in- 

 serted in the middle of the rostrum or proboscis. The antennae is 

 five-jointed, the first very long and conical^ the others transversal 

 and short, the clnb oval and nearlv solid. Rostrum not verv 

 long, strong, slightly inclined, cylindrical and not dilated at the ex- 

 tremitv. Bodv oblono\ cylindrical and wino:ed. Thorax cvlindri- 

 cal and much compressed in front. Shield triangular, paws or feet, 

 hard and inserted verv near together. The shield wino; elonoated 

 and cylindrical. The tarsi spongy beneath the first two joints, tri- 

 angular, penultimate expanded and the last one elongated and 

 cylindrical. 



This insect is a trifle more than one-twelfth of an inch in lenoth. 

 Chestnut colored with stripes of a lighter shade along the edges of 

 the shield wings and about the head. The feet are dark, as are also 

 the tarsi. 



The three above described curculions in their last sta^'e attack 

 the buds of the tender branches, and gnaw the shoots at the forks, 

 digging a nest in which they conceal themselves. Here the female 

 deposits her eggs and the resulting larvae imitate the habits of the 

 Phloetribus whose description follows. 



PHLCETRIBUS OLE.E. 



{See Plate IX.) 



The egg (Fig. 5) of this insect, is oblong in shape and of a yel- 

 lowish white color, and a little over an hundredth of an inch in di- 

 ameter. 



The larva (Flo;. (>, 7, 8,) at its o'reatest size is an eiodith of an inch 

 in length, is oblong and soft, with callous head ; body composed of 

 fourteen rings, one cephalic, three thoracic, and iew abdominal of a 

 dirty white color, with reddish jaws; the palpi, short and small, the 

 antenna just visible, with a considerable enlargement near the mar- 



