BY THE REV. T. BLACKBURN, 117 



corbels open, the claws free, and the metasternum evidently longer 

 than it is in Otiorhi/nchus and its immediate allies. They are 

 allied to the European Phyllohius. In this group Titinia seems 

 to be characterised sufficiently (for distinction from the other 

 genera yet described except Idaspora) by the following in 

 combination : prothorax not or scarcely bisinuate at base ; scape 

 of antennse strongly arcuate, reaching when set back well on the 

 prothorax, but not extending to the elytra ; funiculus of antennae 

 7-jointed, none of its joints transverse; scutellum distinct; femora 

 unarmed ; front coxse contiguous. 



Between Idaspora and Titinia the distinction seems very 

 uncertain. Mr. Pascoe, the author of both genera, at the time 

 he characterised them supplied a tabulation of the differences 

 between them and other genera, in which (E.M.M., 1869) he 

 distinguishes them by the club of the antennse pedunculate in 

 Titinia, sessile in Idaspora. A little later, however, he described 

 a species as Titinia marmorata (Ann. Nat. Hist. 1872), of the 

 club of whose antennse he says, " vix pedunculata," at the same 

 time adding a note that Titinia can best be separated from 

 Idaspora by its rostrum " having no raised lines or costse border- 

 ing the scrobes on each side and continued back nearly to the 

 eyes." A reference to the original diagnoses does not throw 

 much light on the matter, as the only tangible difference I find is 

 that the scrobes are said to approximate above in Titinia and not 

 to approximate in Idaspora, while a note is added after Idaspora 

 to the effect that it differs from Titinia in its longer rostrum 

 with the scrobes lateral. 



I have a large number of specimens before me which appear to 

 belong to one or other of these two genera, but I cannot make 

 two genera of them. Tn fact, the distinctness of the raised lines 

 bordering the scrobes varies in the individuals of a species. If, 

 however, the scrobes in Idaspora are strictly and entirely lateral, 

 none of the examples in question can be referred to that genus, 

 so I think it will be well to call them all Titinia. 



I may observe that I believe one of the species before me to be 

 Merimnetes tenuis, Germar. It is very common all over S. 



