LeConte.] 



ITHYCEK1DJB. 121 



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

 ferior cusp; inentum large, quadrate, supported on a brotid 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. Antenna} 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 coxte contiguous, middle coxae narrowly separated ; 

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

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

 nal spurs particular surface terminal, well-defined. Tarsi broad, spongy, 

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

 the middle with a small acute tooth. 



Inner surface of elytra with 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 Curculionicbe make the nearest approach to the 

 Rhynchitidse. 



ITHYCERUS Sch. 



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

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

 1872, 447; Rhynchite* curculionoides Herbst, Kafer, vii, 130; pi. 105, f. 1; 

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

 i, 187; Oliv., 83, 402, pi. 10, f. 11.9; Enc. Meth. v, 533; Pachyrhynclius 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 <j\ 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. CURCULIOXID^E (genuini). 



The species of this sub-family may be recognized by the mandibles being 

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

 or oblique, with 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 which corres- 

 ponds to it, that the oblique form with the teeth on the inner edg3, is as- 

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

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



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XV. 96. P 



