NEST-MAKING SNOUT=BEETLES. 



a modification of Blatchley and Leng's key to our species 

 is given. 



1. Surface shiny; color, above, either mainly bright red 

 or black 2. 



Surface pubescent; dull red (rarely blackish in the 

 melanic northern form) ; length about .2 in rhois. 



2. Elytra bright red (except see analis) 3. 



Black, faintly bluish, with a reddish spot on each 



shoulder; length usually not .17 in.; front femora with a 

 small, acute tooth. Nests in April and May, on oak .... 



bipustulatus . 



3. Front femora slender, not toothed in male; elytra, 

 pronotum, base of head, prosternum, and abdomen bright 

 red (variety similis is darker); rest of body, including 

 appendages, blue-black; length rarely less than .2 in. It 

 rolls the leaves of oak, possibly also of sumac, hickory, 

 and walnut analis. 



Front femora stout, two-toothed in males; color like 

 analis except that all of the under surface of the body is 

 usually dull red; length usually less than .2 in. Sumac is 

 probably its only food-plant although adults occur on oak 

 and other trees nigripes. 



Otiorhynchinag 



Some authors give these insects the rank of a family, 

 Psallidiidag. The deciduous cusps of the mandibles, 

 mentioned in the key to subfamilies, are teeth which are 

 probably useful to the beetle in getting out of the pupal 

 case. They are soon lost but leave a " scar, " often difficult 

 to make out, on the front of each mandible. Of the 

 numerous species, the following deserve special mention. 



Epicarus imbricatus is a little less than .5 in. long; 

 greenish-brown; when fresh, there is a median, longitudinal 

 stripe of white scales on the pronotum, two irregular, white 

 cross-bands on the elytra; the under surface and legs are 

 nearly white. The adult feeds on a variety of plants, 

 sometimes defoliating strawberries. 



Species of Otiorhynchus have two short, fixed spurs on 

 each hind tibia; the tarsi are dilated, spongy-pubescent 

 beneath, the third joint deeply bilobed; the eyes are 



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