SUBFAMILY I. RII IX( >.\I ACKUI X.i:. 49 



Subfamily T. RHINOMACERIN/E. 



THE PINE-FLOWER SNOUT BEETLES. 



The members of this small subfamily of snout beetles differ 

 from the other rureulionid.e not only in appearance, but funda- 

 mentally in having the labrnm present and distinct and the palpi 

 usually slender and flexible (Figs. 10, 11.) With the subfamilies 

 Rhynehitime, Attelabinae and Pterocolimp they form a diyision 

 (the HaiilofHtstra of Le('onte) in which the elytra are without 

 a fold on the under surface near the outer edge, and in which 

 the pygidium of the two sexes are alike. In our species the head 

 is prominent, not deflexed, beak as long as thorax, rather flat, 

 narrowest about the middle and without autennal grooves; man- 

 dibles flat, curved, acute, toothed on the inner side (Figs. 10, 11) ; 

 antennae 11-jointed, straight, inserted at the side of the beak near 

 tip, first joint stouter and sometimes one-third or more longer 

 than second, joints 2 6 nearly equal, 7 and 8 slightly shorter 

 and broader, 9 11 forming a loose, feebly developed club (Fig. 

 10); eyes small, convex, widely separated; thorax truncate be- 

 fore and behind; elytra punctured, not striate, rounded at tip, 

 covering the abdomen, the latter with five free and nearly equal 

 ventral segments; prosternal sutures distinct, widely separated, 

 parallel in front, then curving inwards; front coxse prominent, 

 contiguous; hind ones transverse, reaching sides of abdomen; 

 iegs slender; tarsi 4-jointed, the third joint broad and deeply 

 bilobed. 



The typical genus, Rli'utonuH-cr, meaning "nose" and "long," 

 was characterized by Fabricins in 1787, and on it a family was 

 founded in 1817 by Leach, and retained by LeConte. More re- 

 cent students, as Reitter in his "Bestimmungs Schltissel,'' have 

 regarded the Rhinomacerids as only a tribe or minor division of 

 Rhynehitimv, while others treat them as a subfamily of Curcul- 

 ionidje. We follow the latter method as, in our opinion, the 

 presence of the labrum and flexible palpi, combined with the 

 other characters above given, are sufficient to justify the reten- 

 tion of the group as a subfamily coordinate with Rhynchitinse, 

 Attelabime, etc. Such a treatment, moreover, simplifies the 

 classification of species by the average student and enables him 

 the more readily to get at the scientific name of the insect in 

 hand, this being the primary object of the authors in preparing 

 this work. But six species of the subfamily, belonging to two 

 genera, are known from North America. They occur on pine and 



