128 RHYNCHOPHORA. [ Deporaiis. 
D. betula, L. Entirely of a deep black colour, rather shining, 
clothed with fine fuscous pilose pubescence ; head large, distinctly 
punctured ; thorax with sides rounded, rather thickly and very distinetly 
punctured, with an obsolete central furrow; elytra broad, a little 
depressed in front, much broader than thorax, with deeply and coarsely 
punctured. strize, interstices with an obscure series of punctures; legs 
moderately long and stout. L. 3-5 mm. 
Male with the posterior femora strongly dilated and crenulate 
beneath, and the rostrum shorter than the thorax. 
Female with the posterior femora simple, and the rostrum about as 
long as thorax. 
On birch, alder, hornbeam, hazel and beech ; chiefly, however, on young birches ; 
more or less common and geuerally distributed throughout the kingdom. 
Sus-ram. Apionine, 
The members of this tribe are small insects, which, as a rule, are easily 
recognized by their peculiar facies ; they are chiefly distinguished by the 
formation of the trochanters, which are large, truncate at apex and 
rather widely separate the coxe and the femora; this is more notice- 
able in the hinder pairs ; the following characters may also be noticed : 
head prominent, not narrowed behind eyes; antenne 11-jointed, nearly 
always straight, with a 3-jointed, ovate, pubescent club, which is pointed 
at apex; rostrum variable ; thorax truncate in front, subcylindrical or 
gradually narrowed from base to apex; anterior coxe conical and con- 
tiguous, exserted, posterior coxe rather broadly distant ; elytra deeply 
striate, covering the pygidium ; abdomen with the second segment much 
longer than the third ; episterna of metasternum linear and elongate ; legs 
rather long and moderately stout ; femora usually more or less clavate, 
tibie truncate at apex without spurs, tarsi dilated, claws simple, toothed, 
or bifid: the sub-family contains the single genus Apion; M. Bedel, as 
before remarked, adds to it the genus Nanophyes, which is, however, more 
correctly retained near Cionus, although it must be allowed that through 
the formation of the trochanters it bears a strong analogy to Apion. 
APION, Herbst. 
This is a very large and important genus, which is very widely dis- 
tributed throughout the world ; it is, however, much more characteristic 
of temperate than of tropical climates, and a large number of the species 
appear to frequent maritime rather than inland districts: according to 
the Munich catalogue published in 1877, the number of known species 
is three hundred and seventy-seven, but a considerable number have 
since been added; about fifty for instance, chiefly from North America, 
are recorded in the Zoological Record for 1834 (vol. xxi. Ins. 95); no 
less than about two hundred and fifty occur in Europe, of which about 
