The weevils (Fig. 206) are the bane of the dweller in the tropics. They infest bread, cake, and flour and meal of every kind. Perhaps the most dreaded by the Northern farmer is the potato bug (Fig. 207), which plays havoc with potatoes, often ruining the entire crop, the vines being covered by the soft and disagreeable larva, more like a worm than anything else. The diving beetle is an interesting insect, being a flier and a swimmer. Its hind legs are fringed and adapted for swimming. On the fore limb is a sucker, or several, by which the beetle can attach itself to any object. The larva is a ferocious creature, armed with a pair of fierce jaws, with which it attacks small fishes, frogs, tadpoles, and game very much larger than itself.
Fig. 206.—The weevil.
Fig. 207.—Potato bug, eggs and young.
XXV. THE BUGS
Fig. 208.—Chinch bug, egg and various stages of the young.