English: An illustration from British Entomology by John Curtis. Coleoptera: Cossonus tardii or Mesites tardii (Irish Cossonus Weevil) Rhopalomesites tardii

Folio text The genus Cossonus was established by Clairville in the 1st volume of his excellent work Entomologie Helvetique" where he has given C. linearis as the type of the genus : the diiferent situation of the antennae, as well as the form of the rostrum in the female of C. Tardii, are such marked differences as entitle it to be distinguished from the others, as a division if not as a genus. I have great pleasure in adopting the specific name proposed by Mr. Vigors in honour of his friend James Tardy, Esq., of Dublin, to whom I have to acknowledge my obligations for specimens of this fine Cossonus taken by himself and Mr. Vigors in July 1822, near Powerscourt waterfall, county of Wicklow, Ireland, under the bark of decayed hollies : it appears, like all wood-feeding insects, to be extremely local; for Mr. Tardy in a letter says, " I have in vain sought for it in places abounding as much in holly and in similar situations in the same county." A slimy exudation, similar to that seen where the Nitidulae reside, was observed on the spots inhabited by the Cossonus. The other species, which is an inhabitant of our own island, C. linearis F., has been found in Windsor Forest, and also in the neighbourhood of Fulham, where in June last Mr. Vigors captured a large quantity in the stump of a willow-tree: Mr. Howard Sims also took some specimens out of an old elm-tree, many years since, near Epping, Essex ; these specimens Mr. Stephens suspected to be a new species, which he named C. elongatus, but from their mutilated state it is a difficult point to decide. The plant figured, to which the insect is attached, is Ilex

Aquifolium (Holly-tree).