154 RHYNCHOPHORA. [Apion. 



Male usually smaller than female, with the anterior tibiae curved at 

 apex and armed with a small tooth, and with the first joint of the pos- 

 terior tarsi furnished with a small hook on its internal apical border. 



On thistles ; generally distributed and common throughout the kingdom ; the 

 larva has been observed in the central stalk of the leaf of the artichoke (Cynara 

 scolymus), in the steins of Cirsium arvense, and in the axils of the stems of species of 

 Carduus. 



GROUP 11. 



Strice of elytra very fine, more or less obsolete, thorax almost smooth 

 (on Gnaphalium (Filago) gallicum, the narrow cudweed, very rare}. 



A. laevig-atum, Kirby, nee Payk. (brunneipes, Boh.). Black, rather 

 shining, glabrous, with the elytra black, bluish, or slightly violet; head 

 quadrate, forehead with a semicircular finely striated depression ; rostrum 

 as long as head and thorax, curved and cylindrical, finely and diffusely 

 punctured ; thorax cylindrical, about as long as broad, very finely punc- 

 tured, almost smooth, and with the fovea before scutellum scarcely 

 apparent ; scutellum very small ; elytra convex, broadest a little behind 

 middle with very fine and more or less obsolete striae and broad and flat 

 interstices, which are shining ; legs black or obscure pitchy-brown. 

 L. 2-2i mm. 



Male with the rostrum shorter than in the female ; according to 

 Walton the male is entirely black, whereas the female has the elytra of 

 a rich violet colour. 



By sweeping low plants, August and September, extremely rare; it occurs on 

 Gnaphalium (Filago) gallicum, on which plant the larva lives in a gall on the 

 terminal bud ; taken many years ag;o in a corner of a field at Birch Wood, Kent, by 

 Mr. Walton, Mr. Waterhouse, and Mr. S. Stevens ; the latter gentleman informs me 

 that the locality is destroyed ; it has also been taken at Birch Wood by Mr. F. Smith 

 and in the same locality on Gnaphalium gallicum by Dr. Power. 



GROUP 12. 



Small or very small species, with the sutural strice prolonged to the 

 base of elytra (chiefly on species of Thymus and Mentha). 



A. flavimanum, Gyll. (picicorne, Steph.). A small and rather 

 elongate species, black, pubescent ; head broad and short, with close 

 rugose punctuation ; rostrum dull, pubescent almost to apex, as long as 

 head and thorax ; antennae slender, with the base pitchy-testaceous ; 

 thorax almost as broad as long, strongly constricted in front, rounded at 

 the sides, with the anterior margin raised, finely and closely punctured ; 

 scutellum small ; elytra a little broader at base than thorax, with the 

 sides subparallel, strise rather strong and strongly punctured, interstices 

 narrow; legs black, rather stout, tibiae more or less pitchy, or pitchy- 

 testaceous. L. 2-2 1 mm. 



Male with the rostrum shorter than in female, the head broader, and 

 the eyes larger, and the antennae more plainly testaceous at base ; the 



