Sitones. | RHYNCHOPHORA. 219 
bt}. Size smaller; length 4-43 mm.; 
upper surface comparatively scantily 
clothed with ashy-brown scales, which 
are more or less variegated . . . . S. MELILOTI, Walt. 
S. griseus, F. (palliatus, Ol.). Elongate, black, clothed with fuscous 
or brownish scales, with three longitudinal bands of lighter scales on 
thorax, and a broad common lighter band running down the suture of 
elytra, which are more or less distinctly variegated on each side with 
small dark patches; the general colour varies from dark brown to 
silvery grey; head long, eyes somewhat prominent, antenne pitchy 
with base reddish ; thorax about as long as broad, with sides slightly 
rounded, sparingly and moderately strongly punctured ; elytra long, 
rather strongly contracted at apex and bluntly acuminate, with strong 
punctured striz, and somewhat convex interstices ; underside with thick 
whitish seales ; legs rather long, femora banded with white and fuscous 
scales. L. 6-9 mm. ; 
Sandy places; at roots of Geniste, grass, &c.; locally common in many districts 
on the coast, but less common inland, and not recorded from the Midland counties 
or any place far distant from the sea; it appears to be generally distributed along 
the coasts of England and Wales, but to become scarcer in the north ; Scotland, very 
rare, Tay and Moray districts; Dr. Sharp remarks (Scot. Nat. 1879, p. 140), that 
the occurrence of this species in Scotland requires confirmation ; Ireland, Baldoyle ; 
it has occurred inland at Esher, Ripley (Surrey), Wimbledon and Maidstone. 
S. cambricus, Steph. Black or brown, upper surface clothed with 
scanty ashy brown scales, and with very short depressed golden brown 
pubescence, which, on the elytra, is sometimes variegated with small 
patches of dark brown or black, but is often unicolorous ; head rugose, 
eyes very prominent, antenne pitchy, with at most the base reddish ; 
thorax with the sides strongly rounded and dilated with large scattered 
punctures and the interspaces very closely sculptured; elytra with 
rather strong punctured striz, interstices very finely coriaceous ; under- 
side thickly clothed with ashy scales; legs black. L. 5-6 mm. 
Marshy! places; at roots of grass and in moss, and occasionally by sweeping herb- 
age; local and, as a rule, not common; Lee, Charlton, Ripley, Woking, Barnes, 
Shirley, Esher, Plumstead, Hampstead, Horsell, Cowley; Hertford; Hythe ; 
Hastings; Lyme Regis; Isle of Wight; Lyndhurst ; Plymouth; Exeter; South 
Wales; Barmouth; Knowle; Repton, Bretby Wood; Church Stretton and Bollin, 
near Bowdon, Cheshire; Pendleton ‘and Bramhall, near Manchester; Yorkshire ; 
Scotland, rare, Solway district; Mr. S. Stevens records it as rare but widely dis- 
tributed. 
V. cinerascens, Fahr.¢. This variety has been by some authors 
regarded as a separate species; it cannot, however, be separated from 
the type ; it is smaller, less robust, and narrower, with the punctuation 
of the upper surface less coarse, the head less furrowed, and the pubes- 
cence closer and longer ; the rostrum is more broadly sulcate, and the 
scales of the underside are whiter ; in the specimens I have seen the 
antenne are red with the elub fuscous, L. 43-55 mm, 
