/.] RHYNCHOPHORA. 1 L' I 



seventy-five inhabit Britain ; in point of numbers, therefore, it is our 

 largest genus next to Homalota ; the genus ranges from Siberia to South 

 Africa and Xew Caledonia, and species have been described from India, 

 Ceylon, Brazil, Cuba, Java, &c., but, as before remarked, comparatively 

 few have hitherto been found within the tropics ; they are small or very 

 small insects, which differ very much in colour and pubescence, and to a 

 certain extent in general form, but they all have a sort of family like- 

 ness, so that it is easy, except in a few instances, to determine the genus 

 from the external appearance of the species ; in the typical form the 

 rostrum is long, slender and curved, and the body is narrow in front and 

 dilated behind, the general shape being that of a pear attached to its 

 stalk ; in the extreme forms, however, the rostrum becomes very short 

 and straight or almost straight, and the body is subparallel ; between 

 these two extremes are found infinite variations ; the antennal scrobes 

 are foveiform, or, if near the head, more or less linear; the antennae are 

 inserted at various distances from the head, sometimes quite close to the 

 base of the rostrum, but rarely in front of its central portion ; in the old 

 tables given for the subdivision of the genus this insertion of the 

 antenna? will be found used as one of the chief characters, but, although 

 useful in some instances, it is extremely confusing and of no prac- 

 tical use in others ; the antennae are variable, but have rather a long 

 scape and the first joint of the funiculus longer and, as a rule, broader 

 than the second; the club is very distinct, 3-jointed ; important cha- 

 racters are found in the rostrum, which is very variable ; the thorax is 

 variable in length, conical or subcylindrical, rarely suborbicular; the 

 scutelluni is sometimes small, sometimes moderate, and occasionally 

 large, and is often furnished with furrows or fovea? and occasionally with 

 carinae at base; the sculpture of the thorax and elytra is, as a rule, very 

 distinct; the former, however, is sometimes almost smooth, and the 

 latter very rarely have the striae almost effaced ; the legs, except in one 

 or two groups, are long, with the femora slightly dilated at apex, the 

 tibia; usually straight, and the tarsi moderately long, with the first joint 

 about equal to or somewhat longer than the second, and occasionally 

 very much longer ; the first and second segments of the abdomen are 

 almost connate and longer than the two following ; rarely a sixth seg- 

 ment is visible ; the colour is very variable, but is usually black or leaden 

 black, or metallic-blue or greenish- blue; some species, however, are 

 more or less testaceous or brownish, and one group has the whole body 

 of a bright scarlet or yellowish-red colour ; one of our largest and hand- 

 somest species, A. limonii, presents a beautiful purple- red metallic tint ; 

 the colour of the legs affords very important characters, the " red legged " 

 group with dark bodies being a well-known crux of all students of 

 British Coleoptera; the pubescence varies very much in the different 

 species, sometimes covering the whole body, and in many cases being 

 scarcely perceptible ; in some cases the upper suiface is glabrous or 

 almost glabrouss, and the under surface is very thickly pubescent. 



Vol.. V. ' K. 



