LeConte.] 



ITHYCEKID^. 121 



Mandibles prominent, not very stout, emarginate at tip, Avltli an in- 

 ferior cusp; mentum large, quadrate, supported on a broad and short 

 gular peduncle; ligula and labial pali)i small. Beak short, rather broad, 

 one-half longer than the head, antennal grooves wanting ; eyes small, 

 rounded, convex. Antennae not at all geniculate. First joint scarcely 

 longer than the second ; third longer than the second ; 4-8 gradually 

 a little shorter and broader; club small, oval pointed, annulated. Side 

 pieces of mesosternum diagonally divided ; epimera not attaining the 

 prothorax ; those of metasternum moderately Avide, slightly dilated in 

 front. Ventral segments nearly equal in length; sutures straight, well- 

 marked. Front coxiB contiguous, middle coxse narrowly separated ; 

 hind coxjB transverse, narrow, attaining the side margin. Legs 

 moderate in length, slender, tibiae truncate at tip, with two small termi- 

 nal spurs; articular surface terminal, well-defined. Tarsi broad, spongy, 

 pubescent beneath; third joint dee[il3' bilobcd; claws divergent, armed at 

 the middle with a small acute tooth. 



Inner surface of elytra with the usual fold, commencing near the posthu- 

 meral sinuosity, running parallel to the margin as far back as the beginning 

 of the apical curvature; apical region very finely scabrous, with a narrow 

 marginal band of very fine golden pubescence. 



In this sub-family th© Curculionid* make the nearest approach to the 

 Rhynchitidae. 



ITHYOERUS Sch. 



1. I. noveboracsnsis (Forster), Nov. Spec. Ins. 35, (Gurculio); (Oliv.) 

 Enc. Meth. v, 553; (Gmelin), Syst. Nat. 1798; Horn, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc. 

 1872, 447; Rhynchiies ctircuUonoideK Herbsl, Kafer, vii, 136; pi. 105, f. 1; 

 IthyceruH cure. Gyll., Sch. Cure, i, 246; Cure, punetahilus Fabr., Ent. Syst. 

 i, 187; Oliv., 83, 402, pi. 10, f. 119; Enc. Meth. v, 5'Sd; Paehyrhynchus Schon- 

 lierri Kirby, Faun. Bor. Am. iv, 271. 



Canada to Texas; sometimes quite injurious to fruit trees by gnawing oft 

 tlie tender buds, as is observed by C. V. Riley (Third Report Ins. Inj. 

 Missouri, p. 57). The anal segment of the (^, is very convex and protu- 

 berant, so as to be visible from beneath, simulating a ventral segment. We 

 owe the first accurate observation and explanation of this fact to Dr. Horn. 

 The pygidium is deeply grooved in both sexes, and projects beyond the 

 elytra. 



Sub Family IV. CUliCLTLIOXID^ (genuini). 



The species of this sub-family may be recognized by the mandibles being 

 rarely emarginate at tip, but either bi-emarginate, with three apical cusps, 

 or oblique, with three cusps on the inner side, which sometimes become 

 effaced, or obsolete. In the first tribes the inferior cusp is also smaller, and 

 less prominent, but it speedily becomes more developed, and it is b ,- the 

 final dominance of that cusp, with the edge of the luandible which corres- 

 ponds to it, that the oblique form with the teeth on the inner edga, is as- 

 sumed; and a still greater prominence of this inferior edge and cusp results 

 in the oblique or flattened form of mandible seen in certain Cryijtorhyn- 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XV. 96. P 



