Apion. | RHYNCHOPHORA. 129 
seventy-five inhabit Britain; in point of numbers, therefore, it is our 
largest genus next to Homalota ; the genus ranges from Siberia to South 
Africa and New Caledonia, and species have been described from India, 
Ceylon, Brazil, Cuba, Java, &c,, but, as before remarked, comparatively 
few have hitherto been found within the tropics; they are small or very 
small insects, which differ very much in eclour and pubescence, and to a 
certain extent in general form, but they all have a sort of family like- 
ness, so that it is easy, except in a few instances, to determine the genus 
from the external appearance of the species; in the typical form tho 
rostrum is long, slender and curved, and the body is narrow in front and 
dilated behind, the general shape being that of a pear attached to its 
stalk ; in the extreme forms, however, the rostrum becomes very short 
and straight or almost straight, and the body is subparallel; between 
these two extremes are found infinite variations; the antennal scrobes 
are foveiform, or, if near the head, more or less linear; the antennew are 
inserted at various distances from the head, sometimes quite close to the 
base of the rostrum, but rarely in front of its central portion ; in the old 
tables given for the subdivision of the genus this insertion of the 
antennz will be found used as one of the chief characters, but, although 
useful in some instances, it is extremely confusing and of no prac- 
tical use in others; the antenne are variable, but have rathera long 
scape and the first joint of the funiculus longer and, as a rule, broader 
than the second; the club is very distinct, 3-jointed ; important cha- 
racters are found in the rostrum, which is very variable; the thorax is 
variable in length, conical or subcylindrical, rarely suborbicular; the 
scutellum is sumetimes small, sometimes moderate, and occasionally 
large, and is often furnished with furrows or fovez and occasionally with 
carine at base; the sculpture of the thorax and elytra is, as a rule, very 
distinct; the former, however, is sometimes almost smooth, and the 
latter very rarely have the strize almost effaced ; the legs, except in one 
or two groups, are long, with the femora slightly dilated at apex, the 
tibie usually straight, and the tarsi moderately long, with the first joint 
about equal to or somewhat longer than the second, and occasionally 
very much longer; the first and second segments of the abdumen are 
almost connate and longer than the two following; rarely a sixth seg- 
ment is visible ; the colour is very variable, but is usually black or leaden 
black, or metallic-blue or greenish-blue; some species, however, are 
more or less testaceous or brownish, and one group has the whole body 
of a bright scarlet or yellowish-red colour ; one of our largest and hand- 
somest species, A. /émonit, presents a beautiful purple-red metallic tint ; 
the colour of the legs affords very important characters, the ‘ red legged ” 
group with dark bodies being a well-known crux of all students of 
British Coleoptera; the pubescence varies very much in the different 
species, sometimes covering the whole body, and in many cases being 
scarcely perceptible ; in some cases the upper surface is glabrous or 
almost glabrous, and the under surface is very thickly pubescent, 
VOL. V. K 
