e blossom in the ensuing spring.

[Illustration: FIG. 38.--_Bruchus piei_ (Pea Beetle.) Europe.]

[Illustration: FIG. 39.--_Platyrrhinus latirostris_. Europe.]

RHYNCHOPHORA.--The _Rhynchophora_ are a group of beetles easily
recognized by the elongation of the head into a beak or snout, which
carries the feelers at its sides and the jaws at its tip. The third
tarsal segment is broad and bi-lobed, and the fourth is so small that
the feet seem to be only four-segmented. There are six malpighian
tubes. The ventral sclerite of the head-skeleton (gula), well
developed in most families of beetles, is absent among the
_Rhynchophora_, while the palps of the maxillae are much reduced. The
larvae have soft, white bodies and, with very few exceptions, no legs.

[Illustration: FIG. 40.--_Brenthus anchorago_. Tropical Countries.]

[Illustration: FIG. 41.--_Otiorrhynchus ligustici_. Europe.]

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--_Lixus paraplecticus_. Europe.]

Of the four families included in this group, the _Anthribidae_ (fig.
39) have jointed, flexible palps, feelers--often of excessive
length--with a short basal segment, and the three terminal segments
forming a club, and, in some genera, larvae with legs. There are
nearly 1000 known species, most of which live in tropical countries.
The _Brenthidae_ are a remarkable family almost confined to the
tropics; they are elongate and narrow in form (fig. 40), with a
straight, cylindrical snout which in some male beetles of the family
is longer than the rest of the body.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--_Scolytus ulmi_. (Bark Beetle). Europe.]

The _Curculionidae_, or weevils (q.v.), comprising 23,000 species, are
by far the largest family of the group. The maxillary palps are short
and rigid, and there is no distinct labrum, while the feelers are
usually of an "elbowed" form, the basal segment being very elongate
(figs. 41, 42). They are vegetable feeders, both in the perfect and
larval stages, and are often highly injurious. The female uses her
snout as a boring instrument to prepare a suitable place for
egg-laying. The larvae (fig. 3) of some weevils live in seeds; others
devour roots, while the parent-beetles eat leaves; others, again, are
found in wood or under bark. The _Scolytidae_, or bark-beetles, are a
family of some 1500 species, closely allied to the _Curculionidae_,
differing only in the feeble development of the s