128 KHYNCHOPHORA. [Deporaiit. 



D. betulee, L. Entirely of a deep black colour, rather shining, 

 clothed with fine fuscous pilose pubescence ; head large, distinctly 

 punctured ; thorax with sides roitnded, rather thickly and very distinctly 

 punctured, with an obsole.te central furrow ; elytra broad, a little 

 depressed in front, much broader than thorax, with deeply and coarsely 

 punctured striae, interstices with an obscure series of punctures ; legs 

 moderately long and stout. L. 3-5 mm. 



Male with the posterior femora strongly dilated and crenulate 

 beneath, and the rostrum shorter than the thorax. 



Female with the posterior femora simple, and the rostrum about as 

 long as thorax. 



On birch, alder, hornbeam, Laze! and beech ; chiefly, however, on young birches 5 

 more or less common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



SUB-FAM. Apioninse. 



The members of this tribe are small insects, which, as a rule, are easily 

 recognized by their peculiar facies ; they are chiefly distinguished by the 

 formation of the trochanters, which are large, truncate at apex and 

 rather widely separate the coxse and the femora ; this is more notice- 

 able in the hinder pairs ; the following characters may also be noticed : 

 head prominent, not narrowed behind eyes; antennae 11 -jointed, nearly 

 always straight, with a 3-jointed, ovate, pubescent club, which is pointed 

 at apex ; rostrum variable ; thorax truncate in front, subcylindrical or 

 gradually narrowed from base to apex ; anterior coxae conical and con- 

 tiguous, exserted, posterior coxae rather broadly distant ; elytra deeply 

 striate, covering the pygidium ; abdomen with the second segment much 

 longer than the third ; episterna of metasternum linear and elongate ; legs 

 rather long and moderately stout ; femora usually more or less clavate, 

 tibiae truncate at apex without spurs, tarsi dilated, claws simple, toothed, 

 or bifid : the sub-family contains the single genus Apion ; M. Bedel, as 

 before remarked, adds to it the genus Nanophyes, which is, however, more 

 correctly retained near Cionus, although it must be allowed that through 

 the formation of the trochanters it bears a strong analogy to Apion. 



APION, Herbst. 



This is a very large and important genus, which is very widely dis- 

 tributed throughout the world ; it is, however, much more characteristic 

 of temperate than of tropical climates, and a large number of the species 

 appear to frequent maritime rather than inland districts : according to 

 the Munich catalogue published in 1877, the number of known species 

 is three hundred and seventy-seven, but a considerable number have 

 since been added ; about fifty for instance, chiefly from North America, 

 are recorded in the Zoological Record for 18S4 (vol. xxi. Ins. 95) ; no 

 less than about two hundred and fifty occur in Europe, of which about 



