CLASS I. INSECTA: OKDER 1. COLEOPTERA. 
553 
state attached to or inclosed within the substance upon which they have been feeding in the 
larva state. 
Analogous American species are the Balaninus rectus, which attacks and destroys the nut of 
the chinquapin or dwarf-chestnut; the Plum- Weevil, Hht/nchcBmis nenuphar, ^hioh deposits its 
eggs in many fruits, as plums, chen'ies, apples, quinces, &c., and is suspected of inserting its eggs 
in the tender limbs of cherries and plums, thus causing the black excrescences which often dis- 
figure them. 
The Palm- Weevil — Curculw palmarum of Linnaeus — found in South America, is a very 
large species, nearly two inches long ; it is black, and lives on the sago-palm. 
Most of the Rhynchopliora are more or less covered with minute scales, somewhat resembling 
those with which the wings of the Lejndoptera 
are clothed, and these, in many cases, exhibit a 
splendor of color scarcel}^, if at all, inferior to that 
of the most gorgeous of butterflies. Even among 
the small species several of great beauty are to be 
met with, and few insects can boast of greater 
mao;nificence than the well-known Diamond-Bee- 
tle of Brazil, Curculio imperialis. 
The insects just referred to all possess genicu- 
lated antennfe, but the habits of those Avith straight 
antennae differ but little from those of their allies. 
One of the best known is the Brtichus pisi, the 
larva of which is veiy common in the seeds of the 
pea, and to such an extent does this insect abound 
in some localities that it has sometimes occasioned 
the entire destruction of the pea-crops. It is com- 
mon both in Europe and America, being here 
called the Pea-bug. Another species, Rhynchite 
Bacchus, attacks the buds and leaves of the vine, 
to which it often does immense injury in the wine countries of Europe. 
THE XYLOPHAGA. 
A considerable number of the true Rhynchopliora burrow in their larva state into the stems 
of trees, often forming holes of considerable diameter in the solid wood. They are, however, 
completely outdone in this re- 
spect by the insects of a subtribe 
which have received the name 
of Xylophaga, or Wood-Eaters, 
from their constant habit, both in 
the larva and perfect states, of bor- 
ing into the solid wood of trees. 
In their general structure they re- 
semble the Rhynchopliora, but 
their heads are broad and flat, not 
distinctly rostrated, and the an- 
tennae are inserted beneath the 
lateral margins of the head. Al- 
though they are of small size, the 
damage which they occasion in for- 
ests is often enormous. The Sco- 
lytus destructor, a common British species, destroys great numbers of elm-trees, and the Scolytus 
pyri, or Pear-blight Beetle, of this country, does great damage to pear-trees, the larva enter- 
ing and piercing the limbs at the roots of the buds. The ravages of some other species are 
Vol. II.— 70 
THE DIAMONB-BEETLE. 
THE TYPOGKAPHIC BEETLE. 
