54 Mr. Kirby on Herbst's Genus Apion. 



the distinctions of which cannot always be represented by the 

 pencil, what species the author intends : that which Herbst has 

 given of Apion virens, would agree equally well with several 

 others; but, in his description, he mentions one circumstance 

 which seems to justify my referring to him for the insect now 

 before us. The head and thorax, he says, have a slight metallic 

 tint, a character observable in both varieties of our Apion vi- 

 rens, and not common in the genus ; in «.' it fades, in the dead 

 specimens, to nearly a black, but in J3. t which appears to be 

 Herbst's insect, it is more permanent. 



33. APION MARCHICUM. 



A, atrum, coleoptris oblongo-ovatis atro-caeruleis striatis : strid 



suturali profundiori, rostro brevi crassiusculo. 

 Herbst. Natnrsyst. vii. 128. 19. t. 103. /. 7 — G ? 



Long. Corp. 1^ lin. 

 Habitat in Anglia. Mus. nostr. 



DESCR. CORPUS atrum, glaberrimum, nitidiusculum. 



Caput inter oculos trisulcum. Rostrum brevius, crassius- 



culum. Antennce longiores, media?. Oculi prominuli. 

 Truncus subcylindricus, leviter punctulatus : puncto 

 majori dorsali postice insuper notatus. Scutellum mi- 

 nutissimum. Coleoptra ex oblongo obovata, caerulea, 

 sulcata: sulculo suturali in medio profundiori, in sulcis 

 puncta impressa. 

 Obs. — Sulculi frontales nisi sub triplici lente vis detegendi, inter- 

 dum omnino absunt. 



This little insect is so similar to the one before it, that I su- 

 spect it may be only a sexual variety. The principal difference 

 lies in the thickness and shortness of its rostrum, and in the 



three 



