Miarus.| RAYNCHOPHORA, 307 
“‘Subovate, thickly clothed with cinereous hairs; rostrum slightly 
arcuate ; thorax thickly punctured ; elytra obsoletely punctate-striate ; 
femora unarmed. LL. 2-22 mm.” ; the following is Thomson’s descrip- 
tion: ‘‘ Broadly obovate, slightly convex, clothed rather sparingly with 
depressed ashy hairs which are arranged in rows on the elytra, black ; 
elytra strongly (sic) punctate-striate ; femora not stout, simple ; rostrum 
not very elongate ; antenne with the third joint searcely one and a half 
times as long as fourth. L. 2-2} mm.,” and he adds, “ very like the 
preceding (M. campanule) in general form and pubescence, but smaller, 
with the rostrum shorter, very slightly narrowed at apex, and with the 
third joint of antenne one and a half times as long as fourth ”’ (whereas 
in M. campanule it is twice as long); it may also be known by not 
having the pygidium impressed in the female. 
According to Perris the species occurs on the Continent on Helianthemum gutta- 
tum in dry places; two specimens only have been recorded as British; they are 
mentioned by Mr. Crotch (Entomologist i. 220) as having been captured by Mr. 
T. V. Wollaston at Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, and as being easily distinguished from 
M. campanule by the lightly striated elytra ; the insect, however, has not been found 
either before or since, and requires further contirmation as indigenous.) 
GYMNETRON, Schonherr (2hinusa, Stephens, pars.). 
According to the Munich eatalogue this genus contains fifty species, 
but in the European catalogue forty-seven are described from Europe 
alone, so that a considerable proportion must have been comparatively 
recently added, as representatives have been described from North and 
South Africa, Central Asia, India, &c.; Bedel includes Mecinus, which 
is, however, better regarded as a separate genus; the species certainly 
beara close relation to Gymnetron, but have quite a different facies ; 
certain of the species belonging to the last named genus are very like 
the members of the genus Miarus, from which they differ in having 
the tarsal claws connate, the anterior coxe contiguous, and the pro- 
sternum simple ; nine species are known as British which fall naturally 
into two groups, one consisting of the three comparatively large and 
broad species which closely resemble our species of Miarus, and the 
other of much smaller species, which are in some cases more or less 
variegated in colour. 
The larve undergo their transformations in the capsules of various 
plants (Veronica, Matricaria, Linaria, &c.), and in many instances 
form galls. The sexual differences are usually marked; as a general 
rule the females have the rostrum less pubescent, more shining, and 
longer than it is in the males, and in the latter sex the anterior 
femora are, in several species, more or less dentate, whereas in the 
females they are simple or almost simple ; the abdomen, moreover, in 
the males is more or less plainly impressed at base. 
I. Third stria of the elytra joined to the eighth behind ; 
form smaller and narrower. 
x 2 
