138 RHYNCHOPHORA. [ Apion. 
usually reddish or ferruginous ; thorax longer than broad, narrowed in 
front, very closely and rather strongly punctured, with a fine central 
channel before scutellum reaching middle; elytra convex with the 
shoulders strongly marked and with strong punctured striw, intersticés 
flat, finely shagreened ; legs long, black; size variable; L. 2{-35 mm. 
Male with the thorax broader than in female, and with the narrowed 
portion of the rostrum shorter and duller. 
On Vicia sepium, Lathyrus pratensis, and also on Sarothamnus scoparius, Crategus 
oxyacanthe, &c. ; the larva apparently feeds in the pods of Leguminose ; common 
aud generally distributed throughout England from the Midland counties southwards, 
but rarer further north ; Northumberland and Durham district, recorded by Mr. 
Bold, as common in Mr. Selby’s Twizell collection ; Scotland, very rare, Forth district, 
“Dalmeny Park,” Murray’s Cat. It appears to extend over the greater part of 
Europe and Algeria; Mr. Walton (Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1844, 
p- 19) says that he has beaten the species out of juniper bushes at Birch Wood in 
considerable abundance in the month of May. Curtis (Farm. Insects, p. 487) observes 
that ‘‘as early as May these weevils are found on the hawthorn, and are abundant 
until the autumn on heather, fir-trees, and oaks,” and that he has ascertained that 
the female deposits her eggs in the pods of vetches, from which he has bred the 
beetle; the larva is of a pale ochreous colour; the chief vetches attacked are Vicia 
sepium and V. sativa; Curtis further remarks that experience shows that V. sepium 
(the bush vetch) is difficult to cultivate on a large scale, owing to the destruction of 
the seeds by species of Apion. 
A. opeticum, Bach. (¢ Marshami, Boh.). Allied to the preceding 
species but on the average smaller and distinguished by its invariably 
black colour, and by having the rostrum more abruptly contracted a 
little behind the middle and less dilated at the base in both sexes ; the 
club of the antenne also is evidently less elongate and the sutural stria 
is continued to base of elytra. L. 24-3 mm. 
On Orobus vernus and Lotus corniculatus; very rare in Britain; two specimens 
only have occurred ; these were taken by Dr. Power several years ago on Lotus 
corniculatus growing on a railway bank near Bopeep, Hastings ; the species is by no 
means uncommon in northern and central Europe’on Orobus vernus. 
A. cracce, L. (¢ rujicorne, Herbst.). Of the same general shape 
as A. pomone, but much smaller, and of a dull black colour and more 
evidently pubescent ; head broad, distinctly striated between eyes ; 
rostrum abruptly narrowed in front, finely and closely punctured, except 
towards apex, strongly and angularly gibbose beneath ; thorax as long 
as its breadth at base, narrowed in front, rather finely and very closely 
punctured, with a fine central furrow before seutellum which is variable 
in length ; elytra convex, of shorter and broader form than in A. pomone, 
with strong punctured striz and flat shagreened interstices; legs black 
with strongly pubescent trochanters. L. 2-23 mm. 
Male with the rostrum shorter, as long as thorax, and the antenne 
entirely testaceous. 
Female with the rostrum longer, half as long again as thorax, and the 
antennee dark towards apex, or testaceous only at base; the narrowed 
part of the rostrum is also longer in this sex. 
