314 RHYNCHOPHORA. |.dnthonomind. 
claws almost always appendiculate ; I have followed Thomson and Bedel 
in their arrangement, but it must be admitted that the tribe is not a 
very strongly defined one, and by many authors the genera have been 
included under other allied tribes ; the following characters may be 
further noticed ; rostrum long, slender and filiform ; antennz 11-jointed ; 
prosternum very short before the anterior coxe ; scutellum large; elytra 
with well-marked shoulders, sometimes dilated behind, pygidium covered ; 
anterior legs longer than the rest, this character being sometimes very 
strongly marked ; tibiae much shorter than femora, tarsal claws free; 
anterior cox contiguous. 
I. Elytra, as arule, at all events behind, considerably broader 
than thorax, with the sides more or less rounded ; femora 
nearly always toothed ; onychium longer with the tarsal 
claws larger. . . ANTHONOMUS, Germ. 
Il. Elytra subparallel, not ‘much broader than thorax; ; 
form subeylindrical; femora simple ; Mesias shorter 
with the tarsal claws very small. . . . .« e e »« BRACHONYX, Schénh. 
ANTHONOMWUS, Germar. 
This genus contains more than a hunderd species which are widely 
distributed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Cuba, Tahiti, 
&c.; they are easily known by the rather broad elytra, which, as a rule, 
are somewhat dilated behind, the long or moderately long rostrum and the 
slender antenne and elongated anterior legs, of which the femora are 
usually more or less strongly toothed ; twenty-seven are found in Europe, 
of which eight or nine are usually reckoned as British ; they present in 
some cases considerable difficulty in their determination, and it is some- 
what doubtful whether they can be all regarded as distinct, 
The larvz of most of the species attack the buds of various fruit trees in early 
spring; a few are attached to Rubi, and some to different flowers ; an interesting 
account is given by Chapuis and Candéze (Cat. des Larves des Coléoptéres, p. 216) 
of the life history of A. pomorum ; the perfect insects hibernate under the bark, 
especially in the cracks of the bark in old trees, and in the first warm days of spring 
come out upon the boughs; the females then proceed to perforate one of the buds 
and deposit an egg in its interior ; one egg only is Jaid in each bud; the develop- 
ment of the bud is not, or only partially, checked, and the young larva finds 
itself in the flower, of which it soon devours the stamens, pistil and ovary or young 
fruit; when full grown it fastens the petals together and forms a sort of case in 
which it undergoes its further transformations ; in thirty or forty days the perfect 
insect emerges from the pupa and cuts a hole through the case and escapes ; in most 
cases the flower does not entirely open, after the bud is attacked, so that the insect is 
contained in a more or less distinct case for the greater part or the whole of its 
existence. 
Oceasionally great damage is done by these weevils in cider-producing 
counties ; such was especially the case in 1816, 1831, 1832 and 1838 ; 
the best method of prevention is to keep the orchard as free from old 
trees as possible, as these are particularly attractive for hibernation: I 
have found them in such trees in some numbers near the Forest of Dean 
