98 COLEOPTERA 
Ii. GENUS PODAPION, RILEY 
Podapion Riley. Bull. Brookl. Ent. Soc. Vol. 6, p. 61 (1883). 
Charaktere. — Da mir diese Gattung bisher in natura unbekannt blieb und mir auch die 
Originalbeschreibung bisher unzugánglich war, muss ich mich darauf beschránken hier die Angaben 
aus den beiden Monographien von Smith und Fall wiederzugeben; wáhrend ich ersterer 
nur die Abbildung entnehme, gebe ich im Nachstehenden Falls Ausführungen wórtlich 
wieder : 
Podapion. Fall, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. Vol. 25, p. 178, 179 (1898). 
« This genus was erected by Prof. Riley for the reception of a singular Apionid 
bred from galls on two vears old twigs of Pznuus zuops. For a description of this insect 
(P. gallicola Riley) and its habits, the student should consult the above reference. 
» The structural characters used as a basis for generic separation by Prof. Riley 
are slight, as he virtually admits when he says : « Where such uniformity obtains in a 
group (Afioninae), characters may be considered generic which otherwise would have 
doubtful generic value. » The greater width of the tarsal joints seems to have been 
the chief character relied upon, and this, indeed. is the only one mentioned by 
Prof. Smith in his Synopsis. Further experience shows that this distinction does not hold good; the 
proportions of the tarsal joints in Af7on vary widely, and in one species at least, A. xanthoxyli, the joints 
are quite as strongly dilated as in gallicola. Podafion does, however, depart so much in size and general 
facies from all the rest of our Apionids, that much less radical structural divergence is necessary than 
if habital peculiarities were slight or wanting; and while the tarsi fail to yield the evidence desired, I have 
observed two other differences which seem to me to meet the requirements. 
» In Podafion the antennal club is relatively very small, with the last joint much shorter than 
either of the two preceeding. In Aon the last joint of the club is always distinctly longer than the one 
preceeding and constitutes at least one-third the length. Again, the front thighs are conspicuously 
stouter than the others in Podafiow, never so in Afiox (the peculiar sexual modifications of the front 
thighs of certain males of section I cannot properly be cited as an exception). It may be said that the 
middle coxe are more narrowly separated than usual, though certain species of A7on, e. g. herculanum, 
approach it in with respect. The claws are nearly simple, there being merely a slight basal angulation, 
which is more evident in the anterior pair. There seem to be no sexual differences, except the very 
slightly longer and smoother beak of the female. 
» Mr. Blanchard writes me that he has beaten Podafion from pitch-pine, Pzmus rigida, on which 
it had undoubtedly bred; P. imos not occuring there (Lowell, Massachusetts). 
» Specimens are recorded from District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Michigan. Smith also 
adds H. B., Arkansas, Florida. 
» Since writing the above I have seen a specimen from Californien (Placer County), in the 
collection of Mr. Van Dyke, of Soldiers Home, California. Truly an insect of extraordinary distri- 
bution. » 
Geographische Verbreitung der Art : 
1. P. gallicola, Riley, Bull. Brookl. Ent. Soc. Vol. 6, p. 6r (1883). Columbia, Massachusetts, 
gallicola, Smith, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. Vol. 11, p. 65, t. 3, f. 2 (1884); Michigan, California, Ar- 
Fall, ibidem, Vol. 25, p. 178 (1895). kansas. Florida. 
