THE GENUS PISSODES. 11 



SUBFAMILY PISSODIN^. 



Anterior coxsb slightly separated; prothorax with anterior ventral 

 margin not emarginate or produced toward sides; beak usually 

 slender, with antennal insertion at or toward middle; eyes rounded; 

 tibiae with tooth on inner apical angle. 



Metasternum Ions?, femora not toothed Pissodes. 



SUBORDINAL TO SUBFAMILY CHARACTERS. 



Head behind the eyes without gular space; maxillary and labial 

 palpi rigid, 3-jointed; labrum wanting or obscure. 



Suborder Rhynchophora. 



Beak or rostrum prominent; elytra with lateral fold or groove; 

 abdomen of sexes with different number of tergites (8 in the males, 7 

 in the females); tarsi with fourth joint obscure, third bilobed, ventral 

 surface of first to third densely clothed with fine velvety hairs, fifth 

 joint with simple claws Superfamily Curculionoidea. 



Gular peduncle (submentum) usually long; antennae 11 -jointed, 

 geniculate Family Curculionidae. 



Prothorax with anterior ventral margin not distinctly emarginate; 

 tibiae with incurved apical tooth; femora unarmed; anterior coxae 

 not widely separated; abdominal tergites covered by the elytra; 

 sternites 3 and 4 (1st and 2nd visible) very long, 5 and 6 short, 7 as 

 long as 5 and 6 together; eyes rounded, widely separated. 



Subfamily Pissodinae. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Length, ranging from 3.7 to 10 mm.; body oblong, reddish brown 

 to black, sparsely to thickly clothed with slender to broad scales, the 

 latter often forming spots on tlie pronotum, elytra, and femora. 



Pronotum variable; broader than long, rarely as long as broad, 

 narrowed in front of middle and usually constricted toward head; 

 posterior angles rounded, rectangular or acute; punctures of dorsal 

 surface with intervening flat or elevated contiguous spaces which 

 sometimes obscure the punctures. 



Elytra variable, more than as long again, with the base as broad or 

 slightly broader than the pronotum, the sides parallel or slightly 

 narrowed posteriorly, and slightly constricted on each side of the de- 

 clivity; interspaces convex to flat, the alternating ones often broader 

 and more elevated; punctures of striae regular or irregular in size. 

 Declivity oblique, the third and ninth interspaces joined around a 

 distinct impression at the apex of the fourth, seventh, and eighth 

 interspaces; fifth strongly elevated at the vertex. Apex of each 

 elytron rounded or subacute; striae distinctly punctured. 



