rv 



rHE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



No. 126. APRIL 1847. 



XXV. — Notes on the genus of Insects Trachyphloeus, with 

 descriptions of new species. By John Walton, F.L.S. 



Fam. CURCULIONIDiE. 

 Genus Trachyphlceus, Germ., Schonh., Steph. 



1. Trachyphloeus scaber, Linn., Mus. Linn., Germ. 



— tessellatus. Marsh., Steph., Schonh. 



— confinis, Steph. secund. ejus Mus. 



Cure, scabriculus, Payk., Gyll., Schonh., non Linn. 



— bifoveolatus, Beck, Germ. 



Strophosomus nigricans, Steph., Kirb. MSS. et Mus. 

 Thylacites grisescens, Kirb. MSS. et Mus. 



According to the museum of Linnseus and to his description, 

 this insect is the true Cure, scaber of that illustrious naturalist, 

 and it is specifically identical with Cure, tessellatus of Marsh. 



I regret that I cannot concur with M. Schonherr and Dr. Ger- 

 mar in considering this insect as specifically distinct from Cure, 

 scabriculus of Payk. I apprehend that the want of time to de- 

 tach the scales and the extraneous matter from the upper surface 

 of the thorax by which the sculpture is obscured, and the want 

 of a long series of specimens to exhibit a variation of size and of 

 form in the elytra, have led those distinguished entomologists 

 into an error ; otherwise it is impossible to reconcile the discre- 

 pancies between themselves and Gyllenhal. 



I possess a series of forty-three specimens (thirty of which I 

 have denuded to obtain a distinct view of the sculpture), and have 

 very closely and minutely examined and compared them with four 

 authentic specimens of Cure, bifoveolatus of Beck from Germar, 

 but I am unable to discover a uniform distinctive difference, and 

 have no doubt that they are specifically identical. Gyllenhal, 

 Schonherr and Germar Itave cited Cure, bifoveolatus of Beck as 

 synonymous with Cure, scabriculus of Payk., therefore the latter 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Vol.xix. 16 



