354 Mr. Kirby's Descriptions of 



I had put by this insect also, as a variety of A. Meliloti, but 

 upon further inspection I am convinced it is distinct : it is inter- 

 mediate between it and A. angustatum, which should stand first 

 in the series. From A. Meliloti, which it most resembles, it may 

 be distinguished by having a rather longer rostrum, a more liairy 

 body, eyes less prominent, elytra black with wider furrows, a 

 longer scutellum, and no concavity between the eyes. From 

 A. angustatum, with which it agrees in its plane front, hairy body, 

 and sulcate elytra, it differs in those other characters which di- 

 stinguish A. Meliloti from that species. 



Additional Observations. 



My learned and very ingenious friend, and coadjutor in an in- 

 tended Introduction to Entomology, William Spence, Esq. F.L.S. 

 ■whose eye nothing escapes, in a letter lately received, directed 

 my attention to the trochanters (for by this name, in the work 

 above alluded to, we have agreed to distinguish what 1 formerly 

 called the second or femoral joint of the apophysis) in Apion as 

 differently circumstanced from those of other Coleopterous genera; 

 and upon examination I find that they are so fixed to the base 

 of the thighs as to intercept them from coming at all in contact 

 with the cox« (or my first joint of the apophi/sis) ; which circum- 

 stance, although it invariably takes place in Hijmenopterous in- 

 sects, is observable in no Cokoptera that 1 have had an oppor- 

 tunity to examine, not even in the cognate tribes ofCurculionida, 

 or insects that have their antennte seated on a rostrum. The 

 general law in this order is for the exterior and longer angle of 

 the base of the thigh at least, to touch the coxa, if it does not in- 

 osculate 



