THE FUNGUS WEEVILS. 



23 



known as the "sweet-potato root-borer," and about 1880 did much 

 damage to that crop near Manatee, Fla., the young lame boring 

 little tunnels through the root in all directions so that the vines 

 died. The larva pupates at the end of its burrow and undergoes 

 its entire transformation from egg to adult in 31 days, lleattie 

 (1010, 2(5) mentions the beetle as "widely distributed and caus- 

 ing considerable injury in the Gulf States." Hamilton (1895, 

 321) records the taking of three specimens on the ocean beach 

 at Lake Worth, Fla., from a rough prostrate Composite plant 

 growing in mats on the sand, there being no sweet potato or 

 other Convolvulaceous plants within half a mile. Breeds also in 

 the seaside morning glory, f/toiixni /><'K-cti/tr<'<r L., boring the 

 stem. (*S7o.s-.s-o^.) 



Family IT. AXTHRIBID.E. 



THE FUNGUS WEEVILS. 



A small family of brown or fuscous, often variegated, species, 

 having the beak broad, flat, sometimes so short as to be indis- 

 tinct, never separated from the front by a transverse impression ; 

 antenna? inserted usually under the sides of the front, slender, 

 straight, pubescent, joints 11 broader, more or less com- 

 pressed, rarely forming a compact oval club. Labrum distinct, 

 quadrate, fringed with hairs; labial palpi 3-jointed, slender, 

 cylindrical, longer than in other Rhynchophora, the last joint 



elongated, narrower at tip; max- 

 illary palpi slender, 4-jointed, with 

 the last joint also longer and nar- 

 rower at tip. (Fig. 2(j.) Thorax 

 variable in form, usually truncate 

 in front, rarely rounded over the 

 head (Br<ichi/t<.irsus and CJiora- 



A 



Fig. 26. Head of EH far ins iuf/nbris fjus), base truncate, with a t 



Oliv., showing at A the flexible palpi . . ,, 



of Anthribidze. (Original.) verse elevated line which is either 



antebasal ( 7Vo/m/<r//) or entirely basal. lOlytra conjointly 

 rounded behind, with ten stria? (except in Xcnorclicstcs) . Front 

 coxa? globose, narrowly separated, hind ones transverse : abdomen 

 with five free and nearly equal segments; pygidium visible, un- 

 divided in both sexes. Legs slender; tibia? truncate at tip with- 

 out spurs or hooks; tarsi brush-like beneath, 4-jointed, second 

 joint triangular, emarginate, third joint small, bilobed, often 

 partly concealed by the second, fourth joint slender with di- 

 vergent claws, either simple or toothed. 



