Vtiorrhynchus.] RHTXCHOPHORA. 173 



leen introduced from Europe ; 0. maurus and 0. monticola also occur 

 in Greenland; one or two species are recorded in the Munich catalogue 

 from Chili, in which country, as before observed, a great number of the 

 European forms appear to repeat themselves. 



The members of the genus are very variable both in size, colour and 

 covering, and are in many cases very difficult to determine ; the follow- 

 ing are their chief characters : pcrobes, which are rather short and not 

 well marked behind, entirely visible from above and the rostrum more 

 or less dilated at apex on each side of them ; antennae with the scape 

 elongate, funiculus variable ; head not constricted at base, eyes not 

 touching margin of thorax ; thorax truncate at base and apex very vari- 

 able in sculpture ; elytra ovate with the shoulders rounded off; femora 

 clavate, sometimes toothed ; tarsal claws free and equal ; the males are 

 usually narrower than the females, and present modifications of the anal 

 segment of the abdotren and the tibiae. 



The species feed on various plants, shrubs and small trees; as a rule 

 they are nocturnal in their habits, and during the day secrete them- 

 selves at the roots of their food plants, in moss, &c.; many, however, may 

 be beaten from bushes, &c., in full daylight ; those that live on bushes 

 aie, when quite fresh, often furnished with very scanty dusty patches 

 on their upper surface, which very soon disappear. 



Certain of the Otiorrlnjwhi are very destructive to vines and wall- 

 fruit and also to raspberries, &c. ; for a fuller account of their ravages 

 and the remedies proposed, the student is referred to Curtis, Farm 

 Insects, p. 384, and to Miss Ormerod's Manual of Injurious Insects, p. 

 305; the chief offenders are 0. sulcatus, 0. picipes (the most abundant 

 member of the genus) and 0. tenebricosiis. 



O. sulcatus is often a great pest to vines, especially in hot-houses ; at 

 night they attack the new wood, in April, and afterwards feed upon the 

 young shoots which turn black ; as they never feed in the day gardeners 

 often do not know what it is that has caused the damage ; if, however, 

 they go into the greenhouse at night with a lantern they may find them 

 feeding, and by holding a sheet underneath and tapping the branches 

 they may often capture a considerable number, and by repeating the 

 process may materially lessen the damage ; as the beetles hide in any 

 crannies in the walls, &c., against which the vines are trained, it is of 

 especial importance that these should be kept as smooth, clean and well 

 whitewashed as possible; they also hide in the earth near the wall, and a 

 line of ashes sprinkled with diluted paraffin or with weak diluted car- 

 bolic acid run along the junction of the wall and the ground will prove 

 serviceable. 



The larvae of O. sulcatus arc rather large whitish, legless, somewhat hairy grubs, 

 and are to be fouud from August to spring at the roots of the food plants; the pupae 

 are yellowish white, and may be met with in April about three or four inches below 

 the surface of the ground ; the best remedy for an infected vine-border is to clear out 

 the soil to a depth of some inches and fill up with fresh ; some authorities rejoinmeud 



