156 RIIYNCHOPHORA. [Apion. 



(Stephens) ; the male is rarer than tlie female. Walton says of the species, " very 

 rare iu the south of England, but I found it in Yorkshire in profusion on the black- 

 thorn (Prunus spinosa), growing on a hedge bank by the side of a ditch full of 

 rushes in a marshy situation." 



A. atomarium, Kirby (pusillum, Germ.). The smallest British 

 species; oval, short, dull black, clothed Avith very distinct greyish 

 pubescence; head short, finely striated between eyes which are large ; 

 rostrum cylindrical, curved, with fine diffuse punctuation ; antennae 

 inserted towards base, black with the scape of ten more or less testaceous; 

 thorax transverse, convex, rounded at sides and narrowed in front, 

 thickly and rather strongly punctured, with a fine short stria before 

 scutellum ; scutellum very small, convex and glabrous ; elytra short-oval 

 and convex, rounded behind, with the shoulders not strongly marked ; 

 striae strong and plainly punctured, interstices rather narrow, shagreened ; 

 legs black, short. L. 1^-1 f mm. 



Male usually smaller with the rostrum shorter and more strongly 

 pubescent. 



Chalky places ; on Thymus serpyllum ; very local, but not uncommon where it 

 occurs; Chatham, Birch Wood, Mickleham, Reigate, Caterham, Kenley (Surrey); 

 Dover ; Arundel ; Whitsand B.iy, near Plymouth ; Holyhead ; Ashwicken, near 

 Cambridge. 



GROUP 13. 



Very small species with the sulci of the elytra as broad as the inter- 

 stices (on Salix). 



A. minimum, Herbst. (velox, Kirby, foraminosum, Gyll ). Oval, 

 moderately elongate, dull-black, with fine and very scanty pubescence ; 

 head broad and very short, forehead strongly punctured, eyes large and 

 slightly prominent; rostrum stout, rather smooth and shining, scarcely 

 as long as head and thorax, finely punctured ; antennre black, sometimes 

 obscurely reddish at base, inserted a little before middle of rostrum; 

 thorax scarcely as long as broad, strongly and deeply punctured, with a 

 small fovea at base ; scutellum triangular, not furrowed ; elytra oval, 

 moderately convex, subparallel, but slightly enlarged behind middle, 

 with the shoulders rounded and not marked, and with very broad and 

 strongly and catenulately punctured stria?; the interstices are narrower 

 than the striie and somewhat raised, and are transversely shagreened ; 

 legs rather long, black, anterior femora stout, tarsal claws with a small 

 tooth at base; size variable. L. 1^-2 mm. 



Male with the rostrum longer than in female. 



On various species of Salix, in May and June ; very local and, as a rule, rare, but 

 occasionally found in numbers ; Hanipstead, Wimbledon, Coombe Wood, Woking, 

 Dorking, Maidstone, Esher, Horsell (Walton, Stevens, Power, Champion and 

 others) ; Dover (E. G. Hall) ; Bretby Wood, near Repton (Garneys) ; Scotland, 

 very rare Solway district, " Raehills, Rev. W. Little," Murray's Cat. ; according to 

 Weucker the larva feeds in a gall produced by a Nematus on the leaves of Salix 



