CURCTJLIONIM. 
381 
green or other light tints. When magnified these scales give the 
insects a very beautiful appearance, one that cannot be appreciated 
by the naked eye. In some species the body is not clothed with scales 
but with an 44 efflorescence, 55 a delicate mealy covering produced by 
the insect itself, and suggesting that a strong alkaline solution has been 
excreted and evaporated, leaving a white floury coating. The body is 
often short and thickset, the head drawn out into a beak of very 
varied form. Small compound eyes are placed at the base, the antennae 
projecting from the side of the rostrum. The antenna consists of a 
slender elongate basal segment, the scape, seven or six short slender 
segments forming the funicle and a club composed of three or four ex¬ 
panded segments (Fig. 137). The minute biting mouth-parts are situat¬ 
ed at the apex of the rostrum; the latter may be short and thickset or 
long, slender and either curved or nearly straight. In a majority, there 
are the scars of the bases of temporary mandibles found in the newly 
hatched weevil, on the mandibles ; these were used in emergence from 
the cocoon or ground and shed. The prothorax is well developed, 
the abdomen large and completely covered by the elytra which fit 
closely to the body and cover the folded wings. The legs are 
moderately long, the femur often swollen at the apex, the tarsi of 
four apparent joints, of which the basal three are usually flattened and 
densely pilose. Males and females are similar in appearance, the 
former often smaller and in some species readily distinguished by the 
form of the rostrum, fore-legs or antennae. 
Though the family is a very large one, the life-histories of only a 
very few are known. So far as known, the eggs are of two types ; eggs 
laid in exposed positions on the outside of a plant are small oval objects, 
smooth, with a hard shell; those which are deposited in the tissues are 
soft, elongate and white. They are laid singly, and usually in consi¬ 
derable number spread over a number of plants. Larvae are, as a rule, 
internal feeders and are white soft legless grubs (Plates XXVI, XXVII), 
with a distinct brown head and a much wrinkled body, which is fleshy 
and slightly curved. The majority of the known larvae are found in 
the tissues of plants, in roots, stems, fruits, twigs and other parts. 
None are known to be other than herbivorous. Pupation occurs in the 
plant, and there is great variety in this respect. A few make cocoons 
of fibres ; many pupate in the tunnel without covering, though in a 
