4 Mr. Kirdy on Herbst's Genus Apion. 



thickness or tenuity will furnish other notes of difference, and 

 whether either of these is partial or general. 



The Antenna, also, compared with the rostrum, are breviores, 

 mediocres, longiores; and their insertion is either behind the apex, 

 at the middle, behind the middle, or at the base of the rostrum ; 

 on which account they may be denominated antkce, media, 

 posticce. 



The Head. The space between the eyes affords some very 

 good, though very minute, characters, hitherto unnoticed, ex- 

 cept by Herbst, and by him only with respect to a single spe- 

 cies*: it is either punctulate, rugulose, canaliculate, or striate; 

 and, besides this, it is now and then hollowed out into a con- 

 cavity -f. 



The Eyes are sometimes prominent, at others subimmersed. 

 The Trunk: often forms nearly a perfect cylinder, but more 

 commonly a truncate cone ; now and then it approaches to a 

 spherical figure ; it is usually rough, with very minute impressed 

 points; and, besides, it is often distinguished by a dorsal chan- 

 nel or furrow running nearly its whole length ; or an abbreviate 

 one; or a larger excavate point just above the scutellum. 



The Abdomen, covered by the elytra, is either globose, obcu- 

 neiform, ovate, obovate, oval, or oblong. 



The Elytra are either furrowed or striate ; and the furrows, or 

 stria, are punctate or impunctate, with interstices either plane 

 or convex. 



Add to all these circumstances pubescence and the varia- 

 tions of colour ; and there will appear no want of characters to 

 discriminate these little insects from each other. ~ ** 



* Viz. Apion sulcifrons, torn. vii. p. 132. n. 25. tab. 103. fig. 42— M. 

 t N. B. To see these minute characters, it is often requisite to use two of the glasses 

 of a pocket microscope. 



Having 



