170 RHYNCHOPHORA. [Apion. 
short broad stria, has a fine stria or furrow before scutellum, which is 
usually continued beyond middle; the punctures of the interstices of the 
elytra are also placed more closely together. L. 23-85 mm. 
On Rumex hydrolapathum (the great water dock) and also on &. obtusifolius (the 
broad dock); widely distributed throughout the greater part of England and Wales 
and not uncommon in many localities, but much less common than A. violacewm ; it 
is widely spread throughout the midland counties, and general in the Manchester 
district ; it has not, however, been recorded from the Northumberland and Durham 
district ; Scotland, Solway and Forth districts; Ireland, Dublin, Belfast, &e, and 
probably general; it has been taken at Swansea on lucerne. 
A. humile, Germ. (curtirostre, Germ., brevirostire, Gyll., plebeium, 
Steph.). Black, rather dull, clothed with fine and distinct greyish 
pubescence; head broad, almost quadrate, very closely punctured and 
very finely rugose between eyes, which are slightly prominent; rostrum 
short and stout, dull and thickly punctured at base, more shining towards 
apex; antenne rather stout, inserted about middle of rostrum ; thorax 
subcylindrical, about as long as, or a little longer than, broad, with elose 
and deep punctuation and a small fovea at base; scutellum rather long ; 
elytra sometimes with an extremely slight metallic reflection, widened 
behind, broadest behind middle, with the shoulders obliquely rounded 
and not strongly marked, and with plainly punctured striz, interstices 
about as broad as the strise, shagreened ; legs black, rather slender and 
not elongate. L. 1{-2} mm. 
Male with the rostrum thicker than in female, and the thorax shorter, 
On Rumew acetosa (the sorrel dock) and amongst grass and herbage; the larva 
lives in the stems of the food plant; common and generally distributed throughout 
England and probably Scotland and Ireland. 
Sup-Fam. Brachyrrhinine. 
( Otiorrhynchidw and Brachyderide.) 
This sub-family contains several important tribes, which are largely 
represented in the European fauna; they comprise all those genera in 
which the mandibles are provided externally at apex with a corneous 
appendage, or with the cicatrix of such appendage; these appendages are 
always present in the pupa state, but are deciduous and are almost always 
shed as soon as the perfect state is attained; they may, however, be 
occasionally observed, and I have a fully develeped specimen of the rare 
Cenopsis fissirostris in my collection in which they are very perfect and 
are about as long as the rostrum: in one or two specimens also of 
Otiorrhynchus tenebricosus in my possession, one appendage remains, but 
in this species these false mandibles appear to be much shorter propor- 
tionally and less faleate than in Coenopsis ; Leconte and Horn (Classifi- 
cation of the Coleoptera of North America, p. 434) notice this variation 
and state that the deciduous pieces are of varying form, usually elongate 
and slender, sometimes falcate and acute, vr short and conical; as they 
