KHYXCHOPHORA. 121 



S.HYNCHITES, Schneider. 



This genus, taken in its wide sense, contains at present upwards of a 

 hundred or more species, which are mostly found in the Northern 

 Hemisphere ; they have, however, a very wide range as representatives 

 have been described from South Africa, Ceylon, Java and Sumatra, 

 Cuba, Brazil, Chili, &c. ; in all probability the genus will be found to 

 be a very large one and to -be spread over all the warm and temperate 

 regions of the world ; the greater part of the species are pubescent and 

 brightly coloured, and very often strongly metallic ; they are chiefly 

 found in spring and early summer on whitehorn hedges, and flowering 

 shrubs or trees : the larvae, which do not call for any particular 

 remark, live in cases formed by the female by rolling leaves into the 

 shape of a cigar or trumpet, or by joining leaves together ; this is not, 

 however, the case with all species, as in some the female deposits her 

 eggs in the freshly set fruits of certain Pomacece or Amy^dalacece, or in 

 the young shoots of oak, beech, &c. ; in all cases she appears to cut partly 

 through the stem, so that the fruit or leaves or shoots fall at about the 

 time at which the larva is ready to undergo its further transformations, 

 which take place underground; the genus, as here limited, is distin- 

 guished by the transverse posterior coxee, which reach the episterna of 

 the metasternum, and by the membranous penultimate segment of the 

 abdomen ; the antennae are rather slender, with a loose three-jointed 

 club. The sexual differences are variable ; in some species the rostrum 

 is longer in one sex than in the other, in others it is curved in the 

 male and straight in the female, or i-ice versd, and in others again the 

 thorax in the male is armed on each side with long projecting spines. 



Twenty-seven species are found in Europe of which about half occur 

 in Britain ; two of these, however, are extremely rare and have not been 

 taken for very many years ; they may be distinguished as follows : 



I. Body behind thorax short and stout, only about 



one and a half times as long as broad, 

 i. Elytra not metallic, dark scarlet or bright brick- 

 red with the suture often darker E. AEQCATUS, L. 



ii. Elytru metallic. 



1. Elytra thickly and irregularly punctured be- 

 tween the rows of larger punctures ; size 

 large. 



A. Surface of rostrum almost entirely metallic ; 

 thorax with a strong projecting spine on 



either side in front in the male ..... R. AURATua, Seop. 



B. Surface of rostrum, at all events behind, 

 traversed by a raised black keel ; thorax 



without a spine at sides in either sex . . . R. BACCHUS, L. 

 '2. Elytra smooth or with regular rows of small 

 punctures between the rows of larger punc- 

 tures. 

 A. Elytra without a scutellary stria. 



a. Colour purplish or purplish -red with a 



metallic coppery tinge ; size larger . . . R. CPPKKX;?, L. 



