affecting the Corn-Crops. 
95 
The grey and vellow wagtails and many other small birds are insec- 
tivorous, and might be enticed to visit our barns and stack-yards 
by placing water conveniently for them ; and, as Dr. Hammer- 
schmidt observes, the excrement of the birds, which might easily 
be removed by winnowing, is not to be compared to the filth of the 
caterpillars for its injurious effects. 
The Corn-WeevtLs. 
From the numerous statements and complaints that have been 
transmitted to me, I am inclined to believe that no insect does more 
mischief to stored corn, in England at least, than these weevils, of 
which there are two species ; but neither of them are natives of 
this country, although one is perfectly naturalised. Probably the 
best plan will be to describe and figure these two species, then to 
relate their economy, and finally to investigate the remedies. These 
weevils belong to the Order Coleoptera, the Family Curcu- 
lioniDjE, the Genus Calandra,* and one species is called by 
Linnaeus — 
7. C. Oryzac, the Rice-weevil (fig. 12 ; fig. 11, the natural size). 
It is smooth, elliptical, and somewhat depressed ; some specimens 
are of a pale chestnut or ochraceous colour, others are the tint of 
pitch, with every shade between the two extremes, regulated pos- 
sibly by the age of the insect ; the head is semi-ovate, the base 
smooth, and capable of being withdrawn into the thorax ; it is 
sparingly punctured ; the eyes are not at all prominent, but black, 
granulated, elliptical, and vertical ; the space between them has a 
deep V-shaped groove, with a smaller one on each side ; the fore 
part of the head is elongated into a stout rostrum or beak, twice as 
long as the head, nearly cylindrical, straight, smooth, and spa- 
ringly punctured ; it is a little dilated at the base, with 4 grooves 
or lines of punctures, especially in the males, in which sex it is 
the stoutest ; at the tip is the mouth, which is very minute, but 
composed of 2 horny mandibles, serrated so as to form 4 large 
! teeth (fig. a) ; the maxillae are minute (fig. b), terminated by an 
j oval lobe, with a slender triarticulate palpus on the outside (fig. c) ; 
the horns are as long as the rostrum, and inserted on each side of 
I it, close to the base ; they are 9-jointed (fig. d) ; the basal joint 
< is very long, and forms an elbow with the remainder ; the 2nd iS 
j subglobose, the 3rd obovate, the 4 following are short, more or 
j less cup-shaped, the remainder forming a stouter ovate-conic club, 
the basal joint being by far the largest ; the thorax is twice as 
broad as the head, oval, but truncated at the base, with the angles 
* Schonherr, who supersedes established names, I think unnecessarily, 
has changed this to Sitophilus. 
