138 RHYNCHOPHORA. 



usually reddish or ferruginous ; thorax longer than broad, narrowed in 

 front, very closely and rather strongly punctured, with a fine central 

 channel before scutellum reaching middle ; elytra convex with the 

 shoulders strongly marked and with strong punctured stri;n, interstices 

 flat, finely shagreened ; legs long, black; size variable; L. 2|-3| mm. 



Male with the thorax broader than in female, and with the narrowed 

 portion of the rostrum shorter and duller. 



On Vicia sepium, Lathy rus pratensis, aud also on Sarothamnus scoparius, Cratcegus 

 oxyacanthce, &c. ; the larva apparently feeds in the pods of Leguminosee ; common 

 and generally distributed throughout England from the Midland counties southwards, 

 but rarer further north ; Northumberland and Durham district, recorded bv Mr. 

 Bold, as common in Mr. Selby's Twizell collection ; Scotland, very rare, Forth district, 

 " Dalmeny Park," Murray's Cat. It appears to extend over the greater part of 

 Europe and Algeria ; Mr. Walton (Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1844, 

 p. 19) says that he has beaten the species out of juniper bushes at Birch Wood in 

 considerable abundance in the month of May. Curtis (Farm. Insects, p. 487) observes 

 that " as early as May these weevils are found on the hawthorn, and are abundant 

 until the autumn on heather, fir-trees, and oaks," and that he has ascertained that 

 the female deposits her eggs in the pods of vetches, from which he has bred the 

 beetle; the larva is of a pale ochreous colour; the chief vetches attacked are Vicia 

 sepium and V. sativa ; Curtis further remarks that experience shows that V. sepium 

 (tiie bush vetch) is difficult to cultivate on a large scale, owing to the destruction of 

 the seeds by species of Apion. 



A. opeticum, Bach. ( $ Marshami, Boh.). Allied to the preceding 

 species but on the average smaller and distinguished by its invariably 

 black colour, and by having the rostrum more abruptly contracted a 

 little behind the middle and less dilated at the base in both sexes ; the 

 club of the antennae also is evidently less elongate and the sutural stria 

 is continued to base of elytra. L. 2^-3 mm. 



On Orobus vernus and Lotus corniculatus ; very rare in Biitain; two specimens 

 only have occurred ; these were taken by Dr. Power several years ago on Lotus 

 corniculatus growing on a railway bank near Bopeep, Hastings ; the species is by no 

 means uncommon in northern and central Europe on Orobus vernus. 



A. craccse, L. ( <$ ruficorne, Herbst.). Of the same general shape 

 as A. pomonce, but much smaller, and of a dull black colour and more 

 evidently pubescent ; head broad, distinctly striated between eyes ; 

 rostrum abruptly narrowed in front, finely and closely punctured, except 

 towards apex, strongly and angularly gibbose beneath ; thorax as long 

 as its breadth at base, narrowed in front, rather finely and very closely 

 punctured, with a fine central furrow before scutellum which is variable 

 in length ; elytra convex, of shorter and broader form than in A.pomonce, 

 with strong punctured striae and flat shagreened interstices; legs black 

 with strongly pubescent trochanters. L. 2-2^ mm. 



Male with the rostrum shorter, as long as thorax, and the antennas 

 entirely testaceous. 



Female with the rostrum longer, half as long again as thorax, and the 

 antennas dark towards apex, or testaceous only at base ; the narrowed 

 part of the rostrum is also longer in this sex. 





