142 



THE ORDER OF COLEOPTERA. 



tlie Rliyuchitides, more elongate and depressed, with uuarmed tibire, 

 and free, usually bifid claws. 



The females roll up leaves and deposit their eggs singly in the cavi- 

 ties thus made. The larva inhabits this cavity, and, when fully grown, 

 leaves it and goes into the ground to transform. IST. A. genera : Attcla- 

 bus, Linn., 5 species ; Bhynchites, Herbst, 8 5 JEugnam_ptus, Sch., 2. 



Sub-family APIONIDES. 



From anew, a jyear. Eostrum long, curved, cylindric or subulate ; 

 scrobes foreiform or pit-shaped. Antenute not elbowed. Size small or 

 very small ; body pear-shaped, usually glabrous, and without wings. 

 Habits of the larvte various. Some live in seeds, especially those of the 

 legumiuosse. Some form galls on the stems and leaves of plants. Some 

 bore into the pith of certain plants and form a kind of cocoon of the 

 detritus or gnawed particles. Finally, some inhabit knots which they 

 form upon the roots of plants. Twenty-one N. A. species of the genus 

 Apion, Herbst, have been described. 



Subfamily CONOTRACHBLIDES. 



Meaning having a conical thorax. With this subfamily we pass to 

 the sub-section of Apomerides (Apostasimerides, Lacordaire,) a term 



derived from the Greek apo — aparty and 

 meros — the fJtigh, in allusion to the greater 

 or less separation from each other of the 

 anterior coxce ; whereas in all the preced- 

 ing sub-families these parts stand nearly 

 or quite in contact. The present is a 

 transitional group in this respect, the an- 

 terior coxai being but slightly sei)aratcd. 

 The rostrum is various as to length ; the 

 scrobes turn rapidly beneath, and are con- 

 coNOTuAciiEus NENui'HAK, Herbst :- fluent behind, being imperfectly visible on 



Pliuu and peach curculio — a, larva; 6, . - _^ i i i -, -, 



pupa; c, beetle; d, a plum, showing the the sidcs. Ihc ocuuir loocs are advauccd 



crescent slit made bv the female after , , ., ,, 



depositing her ogg-a'fter liiiey. SO as to nearly Or quite covcr the eyes 



when the rostrum is bent down. Thighs usually with a tooth on the 

 under side. Size small, or medium ; colors generally obscure. The 

 sub-family is exclusively American. Fourteen N. A. species have 

 been described. The notorious Plum-curcnlio, Conotraclielns nonuphar, 

 Herbst (Fig. G8), may be taken as an example of the genus and its larviB. 



Subfamily CRTPTORHYNCHIDES. 



Rostrum varying in length, usually somewhat enlarged both at base 

 and tip (attenuated in xVualcis.) Scrobes oblique. Antennie far from 



