Mar 4, iyi8 WeevUs Affectiug Potatoes 605 



should prove to be a variety of formicarius as here treated, after exam- 

 ination of the type, it must still be considered very distinct specifically 

 from iurcipennis. The National Museum collection contains six species. 

 Sketches have been made of the side view of the head and thorax ^of 

 the three species which presumably attack sweet potato, formicarius 

 variety elegantulus (Pi. 31, A), femoralis (Pi. 31, F), and iurcipennis 

 (PI. 31, B), and also of brunneus (PI. 31, C-E), which was erroneously 

 recorded by the writer from sweet potato in the Manual of Dangerous 

 Insects.^ 



TABLE OP SWEET POTATO WEEVILS OP THE GENUS CYLAS 



1. Male club twice as long as funicle or longer; antennae as long as head and thorax; 



head not more than one-fifth shorter than beak; elytra greenish, thorax red, 



head black, legs red with dark band (PI. 31, B) iurcipennis Boheman. 



Male club not twice as long as funicle 2 



2. Male club half to three-fourths longer than funicle, female club almost one-third 



shorter than funicle; male antennas almost as long as head and thorax; head 

 one-fourth to one-third shorter than beak; el^-tra bluish, thorax red, head black, 



legs red (PI. 31, A) .formicaritis Fabricius, var. elegantulus Summers. 



Male club half longer than funicle ; head as long as beak ; antennae as long as thorax 

 plus head behind eye; el;>i;ra black with blue or green luster, suture piceous; 

 thorax black, margins piceous; head black; legs dark red with black ring on 



femora (PI. 31, F) .femoralis Faust. 



Cylas formicarius Fabricius (1798) 



Brentus formicarius Fabricius, 1798. Sup. Ent. Syst., p. 174, no. 5. 



Fabricius - gave the following description : 



Habitat Tranquebariae. 



Parvus in hoc genere. Rostrum cylindricum, atrum, antennis rufis, monili- 

 formibus: articulo ultimo longiori, cylindrico, clavato. Thorax rufus, antice 

 globosus. Elytra laevia, atra, nitida. Pedes rafi, femoribus clavatis, at inermibus: 

 annulo nigro. 



In altero sexu antennarum clava brevior, ovata. 



Olivier and Schonherr described the species as piceous with ferru- 

 ginous thorax, antennae, and legs. It hardly seems possible that this 

 can be the same species as the common sweet potato wee\'il with shiny 

 blue-black elytra, red thorax and appendages, and black head and beak. 



For this reason it is considered best to apply to the sweet-potato 

 weevil a name which certainly applies to it — elegantulus Summers. 

 In order that economic entomologists may not be inconvenienced greatly, 

 and in deference to the many writers who have assigned Fabricius's 

 name to the sweet-potato weevil, elegantulus may be considered as a 

 variety of formicarius until there can be an examination of the type. 

 Cylas formicarius elegantulus Summers (1875), the Sweet Potato Weevil (PI. 31, 

 A; PI. 32, A, B; PI. 2>Z< E-H; PI. 34, A-D) 



Otidocephalus elegantulus Summers, 1875, in New Orleans Home Jour., Jan. and Dec. 



,Cylas formicarius Le Conte, 1876, in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., v. 15, p. 327. O . elegantulus is QVLOted in 

 synonymy. 



> Pierce, W. D. a manual of dangerous insects ... p. 209. 1917- Published by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Office of Secretary. 

 2 Fabricius, J. C. systema eleutheratorum ... v. 2 p. 549. Kiliae, 1801. 



