390 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. IV, 



Venter as in other Curculionidae, front coxae almost con- 

 tiguous, middle coxae separated by the more or less elevated 

 process of the mesosternum and the shorter process of the 

 metasternum; hind coxae usually rather widely separated, the 

 intercoxal process of the third abdominal (first visible) seg- 

 ment being broad, but in all species examined ends in a point 

 which is sometimes concealed beneath the metasternum; side 

 pieces of the mesosternum diagonally divided; side pieces of the 

 metasternum dilated in front usually rather narrowly, the 

 outer angle causing a sinuousity in the edge of the elytron; 

 ventral abdominal segments unequal, first and second con- 

 cealed as usual, the fifth and sixth shortest, usually the seventh 

 or fourth next, the third longest, or in some the seventh the 

 longest; sutures straight or nearly so. 



Last dorsal abdominal segment in the male with an extra 

 piece, which appears as another segment and is (in the species 

 examined) covered with peculiar many branched hairs or scales, 

 pygidium not exposed. 



Legs clothed with hairs or scales, usually the femora and 

 coxae with scales only, sometimes these only in front; the apex 

 of each of the tibia possesses a ring or crown of spines of varying 

 length; articular surface of the hind tibiae distinctly terminal, 

 sometimes with a projection on the inner side; tarsi dilated, 

 third joint strongly bilobed, elongate, with a setose pad 

 beneath; claws long, simple, free. 



The description of the stages relate only to the following 

 species: Hypera punctata, Phytonomits posticus, P. nigrirostris, 

 P. meles, and P. comptus. The characters seem however, to 

 be common to the species named, where the stages are known. 



Egg: (not known in comptus) : more or less oval, white, 

 yellow or some shade of yellow, reticulated with hexagonal 

 depressions. 



Larva: In the younger stages (not known in comptus) 

 slender, widest in the middle, head dark, dorsal surface set 

 with dark or black tubercles upon which are inserted hairs, 

 which are usually clavate at the tips, except on the anal seg- 

 ments where they are longer and simple ; beneath the thorax the 

 surface is projected into lobes, sometimes each lobe of each of 

 the three pairs is bilobed and set with bristles; abdominal 

 segments beneath with smaller lobes; sides with two swollen 

 areas on each segment, the one on which the spiracles are placed 



