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splendid-us, clad in black bossed armour adorned with gold and green. A third species of 

 these Brazilian gems — Rhigus schuppellii — wears a coat of green mail studded with golden 

 knobs. Many other strangely formed or ornamented weevils are found in the south, of 

 which but two examples can be given. The first is a large black beetle found in New 

 Holland named Gagatophorus Schonherri. "There is scarcely any portion of the upper sur- 

 face of this insect, which is quite smooth, those parts which are not knobbed being grooved. 

 The upper part of the head has a wide and rather deep groove. The thorax is rounded 

 and covered with knobs, which are comparatively scanty on the disc, but become very 

 numerous and crowded on the sides. These projections are without any apparent order, 

 but those of the elytra are arranged in three distinct rows. The elytra are very large 

 and are turned over the sides rather abruptly. On the edge, where they are folded, is a 

 row of nine knobs, so long and pointed that they may well be called spikes. Next comes 

 a row of seven knobs, and next to the suture is a third row of four knobs, these last being 

 placed rather irregularly (Wood's " Insects Abroad"). Xenocerus lineatus might well be 

 mistaken for a longicorn beetle, so extraordinarily long are the antennae of the male. 

 The beetle is of a chocolate brown colour, marked with white lines, and is hardly an inch 

 long, while its antennae are more than two inches in length and very delicate. 



Among our native weevils are two species belonging to the Attelabidce. They are 

 small beetles found upon the leaves of oak, etc., and are said to make a sort of little nest, 

 in which to lay their eggs, by cutting and rolling up a portion of the leaf of some tree. 



The largest weevil I know to be found in Canada is the one named Ithycerus nova- 

 boracensis. It is a stout-bodied beetle, from two to three-fourths of an inch in length ; 

 the largest ones (females) being one-fourth of an inch across the wing-covers. The snout 

 is broad and the rather short club-tipped antennae are inserted near the jaws. The thorax 

 is short, about as wide aslong, and marked by three longitudinal white lines. The elytra 

 are wide and ample, being turned down well at the sides, and they are marked by parallel 

 white lines, interrupted by slightly raised black spots. The colour of the beetle is black, 

 but a scanty clothing of short white hairs gives it a grayish appearance. I have often 

 found it during J une upon beech trees, and the sexes copulate at this time. It is men- 

 tioned by Fitch as eating the buds and gnawing the twigs of apple trees in May and J une. 



Hylobius pales is one of the destructive weevils found upon our pine trees, and is 

 very common throughout the lumbering districts. In Ottawa during the early summer they 

 appear in great numbers, crawling on the sidewalks and on buildings and fences. Its 

 length is about three-eighths of an inch, and its colour a deep brown, approaching almost 

 to black. The rounded thorax is closely punctured, and the elytra have rows of impressed 

 dots as if stitched, and also slight irregular markings made by white hairs, which in many 

 specimens are rubbed off. The long snout is stout and strong, as are the legs, with which 

 the beetle can cling tightly to its captor's finger, as it has a habit of doing, pressing at the 

 same time with its snout, of which the mandibles are too small to pierce the skin. During 

 May and June the beetle lays its eggs in holes bored in the bark of pine trees, and the 

 grubs burrow between the wood and bark, loosening the latter and thus causing decay. 

 I have found this beetle, early in May, with its snout buried in the base of the tube of the 

 Mayflower ( Epigea repens ) in the same manner as bees perforate flowers to gather honey 

 and pollen. 



H. stupidus is a larger and heavier beetle, nearly half an inch long. The scutel is 

 yellow, and there are scattered patches of hair of the same colour upon the body and 

 wing-covers. It is much less numerous than the former species. 



Pissodes strobi (fig. 35), the white-pine weevil, is smaller than the above 

 described species, but is even more destructive in its habits. One of the most 

 important uses to which our noble pines are adapted is for the construction of 

 ships" masts and spars, for which purpose it is absolutely necessary that they 

 be straight and faultless. Now, this weevil delights to select the leading or 

 topmost shoot of the thrifty young pines, as the object of its attack. It bores 

 holes in the bark, at irregular intervals, the whole length of the shoot ; in each 

 of these it lays an egg, and as soon as the larva is hatched, it eats downward 

 toward the centre of the twig, and burrows in the pith. In the cell thus formed ^ig. 35. 



