66 



FAMILY III. CURCULIOXIPvK. 



Fig. 36. Apion assimilc, 



a European species 



greatly enlarged. 



(After Chit- 



tenden.) 



rated ; femora more or less club-shaped, sepa- 

 rated from the coxa? by the large intervening 

 trochanters (Fig 14), front tibia* longer than 

 the others; tarsi usually feebly dilated, daws 

 variable. Two genera represent the subfamily 

 in the United States. The principal papers 

 treating of the species of our fauna are as 

 follows : 



X until. Joint B. "Synopsis of the Apion- 

 in?e of North America," in Trans. Am. 

 Ent. Soc., XI, 1884, 4168. 

 Fall, H. C. "Kevision of the Species of 

 Apion of America north of Mexico," in Trans. Am. Ent. 

 Soc., XXV, 1898, 105184. 



KEY TO GENERA OF APIOXI>\E. 



a. Front femora never distinctly stouter than the others; antennal club 

 larger, its last joint longer than the one preceding. I. APIOX. 



aa. Front femora distinctly stouter than the others; antennal club rela- 

 tively very small, its last joint much shorter than either of the two 

 preceding. (Fig. 39, f. ) II. PODAPIOX. 



I. Anox Herbst, HOT. (Gr., "a pear.") 



To this genus, as characterized above, belong all but one of 

 the 110 or more species of the subfamily known from this coun- 

 try. They form a group remarkable for their general small size 

 and uniformity of color, shape and structure. The larva? feed, 

 for the most part, on seeds, principally those of legumes, though 

 some form galls on the stems and leaves of plants, others knots 

 on the roots, while a few bore into the pith and form a kind of 

 cocoon of the gnawed particles. The sexes of most species are 

 readily distinguished, the tip of the abdomen being visibly de- 

 flected in the male and more or less retracted in the female. The 

 males have also a small additional terminal dorsal segment which 

 is usually exposed, and their beaks are usually shorter and more 

 coarsely sculptured than those of female. The sexes of some 

 species, however are very difficult to separate. 



As here restricted to the tribe Apionini of A Vaguer, 1910, 

 C' i/ld .^ being included in Brenthida 1 , this subfamily includes about 

 1,1100 species, found in all parts of the world, of which about H4 

 species have been recorded from east of the Mississippi River. 

 On account of their small size and uniformity of general appear- 

 ance thev are verv difficult to classifv. We have mainlv followed 



