216 RHTNCHOPHORA. [CurculioniniK . 



ii. Anterior tibiae with a regular ridge running' along the 

 entire central line of their posterior margin ; club of 

 antennae smooth at base ; thorax very long ; apex of elytra 

 with a membranous border CALANDBINA. 



SITONINA. 



This tribe has usually been regarded as belonging to the Otiorrhyn- 

 chinse, and has been classed with the Brachyderina or Phyllobiina : it 

 must, however, be regarded as belonging to the sub-family Curculioninae, 

 although it is in some respects transitionary ; it contains only one genus, 

 Sitones, which differs from all the other tribes by the structure of the 

 mandibles, which are thickly punctured and pubescent on their surface, 

 sharp and without a tooth on their internal edge and curved into a 

 sharp hook at apex ; the rostrum is short and broad ; certain of the 

 species are exceedingly destructive to various leguminous crops. 



SITONES. Schonherr. 



This genus, according to the Munich catalogue, contains about eighty 

 species, of which the majority occur in Europe, but a considerable 

 number are found in North Africa, Northern Asia, North America, 

 Mexico, &c. : according to Bedel, however, several of the North 

 American species are re- described European species, which have been 

 perhaps imported, and he reckons the number of known species at about 

 sixty ; fifty-two species, however, are recorded as European in the 

 catalogue of Heyden Reitter and Weise ; nineteen have been regarded as 

 British, but two of these, S. longicollis, Fahr., and S. cinerascens, Fahr., 

 are only varieties of S. flavescens, Marsh, and S. cambricus, Steph., 

 respectively ; they are small, elongate, insects, clothed with more or 

 less variegated grey, brown, whitish or sometimes slightly metallic 

 scales, and in many instances so closely resemble one another that it is 

 very hard to distinguish them by descriptions ; good characters, however, 

 are afforded by the relative prominence of the eyes, the shape of the 

 thorax and elytra and the presence or absence of erect hairs and setae on 

 the elytra ; the colour is sometimes constant but sometimes varies con- 

 siderably in the same species ; the males are usually smaller and 

 narrower than the females and present certain differences in the apical 

 segment of the abdomen. 



The species are gregarious and many of them are exceedingly abun- 

 dant in different localities ; they live on various Papilionac.ece, and 

 occasionally do considerable damage to clover, peas, beans, &c. ; there 

 are apparently two broods in each year, but very little is known of 

 their true life history ; the most destructive is 8. Uneatus, which may 

 sometimes be found on peas by countless thousands ; a description of 

 its ravages is given by Curtis (Farm Insects, p. 346, Plate L.); S. 

 crinilus is occasionally injurious, but is much rarer ; the beetles are 

 said by Curtis and others to feed only by day, when the sun is bright, 



