THE BR U CHID Hi. 
317 
in a great number of species. The head is strong, and is clothed 
with a leathery integument ; their antennae are very small, their 
mandibles are strong, and often dentated ; and — as a rule, there 
being a few exceptions to it — they have no eyes. 
The larvae are, therefore, very embryonic in appearance, and 
can be contrasted with those of many other Coleoptera which are 
much more developed. 
Three principal forms may be distinguished in this great 
family — the Bruchidcc , whose beaks are short and broad ; the 
Attelabince , whose beaks are long and almost cylindrical ; and the 
Curculionidoe , which have beaks of greater or less length, or whose 
antennae are bent after the first joint. 
The Bruchidce are well known, on account of the mischief com- 
mitted by the commonest genus, Bruchus. Almost every one has 
seen dried peas pierced by a perfectly circular little hole ; and 
some may have noticed a small beetle, about the eighth of an inch 
long, coming out of them ; it is a blackish insect, marked with 
white lines or spots. It is called Bruchus pisi> and is a very 
common beetle. The mature insect lays its eggs when the peas 
begin to ripen. As soon as the larvae are hatched, they make 
their way into the substance of the pea from without, and devour 
the inside. When the larva is about to undergo its metamor- 
phosis, it gnaws in such a manner as to come so close to the out- 
side skin that it .only leaves a delicate layer between it and 
the world. When the adult has undergone its transformations 
it has only to break through this thin partition in order to come 
into the light. In some instances the larvae remain within beans 
and peas during the whole of the winter, and undergo their trans- 
formations before it is time to sow the peas next year. Their 
ravages were at one time so universal in North America, as to 
put an end in some places to the cultivation of peas altogether. 
Brucus graJictrius is another species which is very destructive 
to the same plants in this country ; and in tropical countries 
other species attack plants with seeds like peas, and some are 
even found in the cocoa-nut. Dr. Baird writes that the species 
of Anthribus which belong to this family are most frequently 
found amongst old wood, and some of them appear to live as 
parasites upon the Cocci ; one species, which lives through the 
