382 
COLEOPTERA. 
distinct closed chamber. The larvae which live exposed make a case 
of excrement or of gummy material derived from the anus. 
The weevils which emerge are 
active insects, diurnal or noctur¬ 
nal, feeding on leaves and other 
parts of plants or on plant sap. 
None are known to be predaceous, 
though at least one is probably 
so. The duration of each stage 
varies with the species. Some are 
one-brooded, hibernating as the 
imago and passing long periods 
in the imago form, until they 
are able to lay eggs in the tissues 
in which the larvae can live. 
Others are many-brooded, and 
one brood succeeds another so 
long as food is available. In 
these cases hibernation appears 
to be passed in the larval or 
pupal form. 
Weevils have the habit of 
“ shamming dead;” when ap¬ 
proached the legs and antennae 
are folded close to the body and 
the insect drops to the ground. 
This is a valuable defence, especially in thick vegetation, the 
insect falling to the soil and being extremely hard to find. Since 
all are herbivorous and some abundant, the family includes many 
destructive species, whose ravages, especially in the larval stage, are 
of importance in Agriculture. Our knowledge of these insects is slowly 
growing and many yet remain to be worked out. Owing to their con¬ 
cealed lives and to the often nocturnal habits of the imago, they are 
difficult to check, no stage being exposed to any particular measures 
that can be adopted. A few are destructive, not in the larval but in 
the imaginal stage, the weevil living for long periods and destroying 
leaves. The mango weevil, the melon weevil and apple weevil attack 
Fig. 260. —Odoiporus longicollis, imago 
AND COCOON. 
