LeConte.] 



ITHYCP^llID^. 121 



Mandibles prominent, not A-ery stout, emarginate at tip, with an in- 

 ferior cusp; men turn large, quadrate, supported on a broad and short 

 gular peduncle; ligula" and labial palpi small. Beak short, rather broad, 

 one-half longer than the head, antennal grooves wanting ; eyes small, 

 rounded, convex. Antenme not at all geniculate. First joint scarcely 

 longer than the second ; third longer than the second ; 4-8 gradually 

 a little shorter and broader; club small, oval pointed, annulated. Side 

 pieces of mesosternum diagonally divided ; epimera not attaining the 

 prothorax ; those of metasternum moderately wide, slightly dilated in 

 front. Ventral segments nearly equal in length; sutures straight, well- 

 marked. Front coxjie contiguous, middle coxse narrowly separated ; 

 hind coxse transverse, narrow, attaining the side margin. Legs 

 moderate in length, slender, tibiic truncate at tip, with two small termi- 

 nal spurs; articular surface terminal, well-delined. Tarsi broad, spongy, 

 pubescent beneath; third joint deeply bilobed; claws divergent, armed at 

 the middle with a small acute tooth. 



Inner surface of elytra Avith the usual fold, commencing near the posthu- 

 meral sinuosity, running parallel to the margin as far back as the beginning 

 of the apical curvature; apical region very finely scabrous, with a narrow^ 

 marginal band of very fine golden pubescence. 



In this sub-family the Curculionida3 make the nearest approach to the 

 Rhynchitidae. 



ITHYOERUS Sch. 



1. I. noveboracensis (Forster), Nov. Spec. Ins. 35, (Curculio); (Oliv.) 

 Enc. Meth. v, 553; (Gmelin), Syst. Nat. 1798; Horn, Proc. Am. Phil. See. 

 1873, 447; RhyncJiiies curcuUonoiden Herbst, Kafer, vii, 13G; pi. 105, f. 1; 

 Ithycerus cure. Gyll., Sch. Cure, i, 246; Cure, punctatulus Fabr., Ent. Syst. 

 i, 187; Oliv., 83, 402, pi. 10, f 119; Enc. Meth. v, 533; PachyrhyncJms Schon- 

 herri Kirby, Faun. Bor. Am. iv, 271. 



Canada to Texas; sometimes quite injurious to fruit trees by gnawing oft 

 the tender buds, as is observed by C. V. Riley (Third Report Ins. Inj. 

 Missouri, p. 57). The anal segment of the (^, is very convex and protu- 

 berant, so as to be visible from beneath, simulating a ventral segment. We 

 owe the first accurate observation and explanation of this fact to Dr. Horn. 

 The pygidium is deeply grooved in both sexes, and projects beyond the 

 elytra. 



Sub Family IV. CUliCULIOXID^ (genuini). 



The species of this sub-femily may be recognized by tlie mandibles being 

 rarely emarginate at tip, but either bi-emarginate, with three apical cusps, 

 or oblique, wuth three cusps on the inner side, which sometimes become 

 effaced, or obsolete. In the first tribes the inferior cusp is also smaller, and 

 less prominent, but it speedily becomes more developed, and it is b ,- the 

 final dominance of that cusp, with the edge of the mandible Avhich corres- 

 ponds to it, that the oblique form witli the teeth on the inner edg.\ is as- 

 sumed; and a still greater prominence of tliis inferior edge and cusp results 

 in the oblique or flattened form of mandible seen in certam Cryptorhyn- 



PROC. AMEB. PHILOS. SOC. XV. 96. P 



