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GENUS OF DOUBTFUL POSITION 



FERGUSONIA n. g. 



Head round, almost concealed from above. Eyes rather small and 

 round, distant, coarsely faceted. Piostrum long, rather wide, and 

 straigtjt or almost so; scrobes lateral, commencing slightly nearer 

 apex than base, rather shallow, touching lower edge of eyesi 

 Antenna3 ttiin; scape slightly shorter than funicle and club com- 

 bined; funicle 6-jointed, first joint moderately stout, the others 

 thinner; club ovate. Protlwrax transverse, base bisinuate, ocular 

 lobes obtuse. Elytra short and broad, base trisinuate; with rows of 

 large punctures. Metasternuin about as long as basal segment of 

 abdomen. Abdomen about half the length of under surface; its 

 sutures deep, wide and straight; hrst segment about as long as tiiree 

 following combined, second about as long as two following com- 

 bined, each of iliese about as long as its sutures, fiftii very short. 

 Legs short and very stout; front coxge sligutly separated, middle 

 moderately, tne hind pair more widely separated; femora apparently 

 edentate; tibiae very short, with a strong apical hook; tarsi short 

 and wide, claw joint thin, less than half its length free from lobes 

 of third, terminated by a single claw. Short, robust, densely 

 squamose, winged. 



Although ttiere are eleven specimens of one species and six of 

 another before me (as well as three specimens of two others species 

 that are not in condition to be described) 1 am unable to see many 

 of the parts with sufficient clearness to define the subfamily it 

 belongs to. And this is a difficulty that every worker at the genus 

 will have to contend with. I have nothing resembling it in a large 

 foreign collection of the family, nor can I fix its position in any 

 of the classifications that I have gone into. Possibly, however, it 

 belongs to one of the small subfamilies near the Cryptorhynchides 

 as the mouth parts (seen from below) and under parts of rostrum 

 are very close in appearance to tiioseofmany Cryptorhynchides, 

 and the separated front coxa3 with a slight pectoral canal in front of 

 same suggest a similar position. Quite probably, however, I am 

 mistaken in suggesting such a position, as Mr. Blackburn, to 

 whom I sent both species for examination, wrote of them : « I have 

 this genus. It puzzled me when I was on Curculionidce as much as 

 it seems to have done you. According to Lacordaire it seemed to me 

 that it ought to be a small Hylobiid, and 1 certainly thought it to 

 have many points of resemblance with that group in spite of its 

 ridiculously small size. » 



