448 Mr. J. Walton on the Genus Apion. 



are identical with Apion marchicum of Herbst. Apion Rumicis 

 of Kirby^s MS. and collection is decidedly a purplisb-copper- 

 coloured variety of his Apion Spartii. The authentic British spe- 

 cimens from which Schonherr described his Apion Spartii have 

 been kindly lent me by Mr. Waterhouse for examination, and 

 these I find also to be specifically identical with Kirby^s Apion 

 Spartii. In the Linnsean cabinet there is an insect with the name 

 Cure, aterrimus attached to the pin ; this insect I have repeatedly 

 examined, and have always arrived at the same conclusion, that 

 it is the Apion marchicum of Germ., Gyll., and Schonh. Mr. Kirby 

 has little doubt that the specimen alluded to is the original Cur- 

 culio aterrimus of Linnaeus ; but it is remarkable that the latter 

 author should have always described the insect as " totus ater,'^ 

 for it has the elytra of a dark green colour : this circumstance has 

 caused me to hesitate to adopt the old specific name aterrimus. 



6. A, affinCy Kirb., Germ., Steph., Schonh. 



The affinity between this species and the foregoing [Apion mar- 

 chicwri) is extremely close ; individuals are found of the same size, 

 with the form and sculpture of the thorax so much resembling 

 the preceding, as to induce Gyllenhal to consider the two species 

 as scarcely distinct from each other. I cannot but regard Apion 

 affine as a good species : it difi'ers from Apion marchicum in being 

 generally of a larger size, and varieties never occur so small as 

 those of the latter species ; the thorax inclines more to a globose 

 form, with the punctures closer, larger and deeper ; the elytra 

 are proportionally wider and more convex, with less disposition 

 to vary from the natural form than in Apion marchicum. 



Apion affine appears to be a rare insect in the south of En- 

 gland, and was wanting in most of the London cabinets before I 

 supplied them. I found this species in great abundance in only 

 one locality — a hedge-bank in Yorkshire, at the latter end of June 

 and the beginning of July, on various plants, but with none of 

 Apion marchicum occurring ; nor have I ever found any of Apion 

 affine in company with Apion marchicum^ in any of the different 

 localities in the north and south of England. 



7. A. humile. Germ. (1817), Gyll., Steph., Schonh. 



— hrevirostre, Kirb., Gyll. (vol. iii.) not Herbst. 



— curtirostre. Germ., Steph. 



— (var.) sedi, Gyll. (vol. iv.) not Germ.* 



— pleheium, Steph. 



Mr. Kirby adopted the name Apion hrevirostre of Herbst upon 

 the authority of Major Gyllenhal, with the impression however 

 that it was not the same, as it did not agree with Herbst's de- 



* Schonh. Syn. Ins. vol. v. p. 441. 



