SMICRONYX WEEVILS—ANDERSON 241 
Brotoey: Five specimens of S. posticus were found by the writer 
on Cuscuta gronovii Willd. on August 1 at Six Mile Creek, Ithaca, 
N.Y. No further information is available on the biology of this 
species. 
Discussion: S. posticus bears a strong resemblance to S. defricans 
Casey in respect to general body shape and proportions, color, and 
elytral scale pattern. However, in S. posticus, the interspaces of 
the prothorax are raised into low concentric ridges, the legs are 
entirely rufous, and the median lobe of the male genitalia has no set 
of sharp spines on its internal sac near the median orifice, while in 
S. defricans the prothorax has no concentric ridges, the legs are not 
rufous (femora are piceous), and there is a set of sharp spines on the 
internal sac near the median orifice of the median lobe (figs. 62-63). 
DistTRIBUTION: Present records indicate that this species may be 
found on the Atlantic coastal plain and in the Appalachian highlands, 
from the Chesapeake Bay area northward as far as the Finger Lakes 
region. The following specimens were examined: 
MARYLAND: ST. MARYS CO.: Piney Pt. (USNM). 
New YORK: ORANGE Co.: West Point, Sept. 7 (USNM). TompPxKINs co.: 
Ithaca, Aug. 1 (DMA). westcHEsTER co.: New Rochelle, Aug. 25 (USNM). 
PENNSYLVANIA: ALLEGHENY Co.: Pittsburgh, May 27, June 29, July 1, Aug. 15 
(CM). NORTHAMPTON co.: June 3 (CAS). WESTMORELAND Co.: Jeannette, 
June 26 and 29, Aug. 7, Sept. 10 (CM). 
Total specimens examined: 28. 
Smicronyx instabilis Casey 
Fiaures 13-15, 64, 112 
Smicronyz instabilis Casey, Ann. New York Acad. Sci., vol. 6, pp. 403-404, 1892. 
Type: Female, Suscol Station, Napa Co., California, collected by T. L. Casey, 
USNM 36715 (T. L. Casey collection). 
Description: Rostra of both sexes black, stout, moderately curved, 
finely punctate and substriate from base to apex; squamose from base 
to near apex in males, nearly glabrous before antennal insertions in 
females. Head black, alutaceous, not shining, front covered with a 
patch of yellowish brown scales. Antennae black to piceous, scales 
linear and white. Prothorax black, broadly rounded at sides, sud- 
denly narrowed and slightly constricted toward apex; disk evenly 
covered with shallow, rounded punctures; interspaces finely punctu- 
late; scales both elongate and elliptical, yellowish brown except for 
a patch of white scales on each side, sparse toward middle of disk. 
Elytra black, intervals covered with elliptical scales, yellowish 
brown except for a patch of white scales on each side of median suture 
slightly behind the middle, and two thin oblique lines of white scales 
(indistinct in some specimens) extending from humeri to white patches. 
Femora moderately clavate, rufopiceous, covered with a mixture of 
