Miarus.] 



RHYXCHOPUORA. 



307 



" Subovate, thickly clothed with cinereous hairs ; rostrum slightly 

 arcuate ; thorax thickly punctured ; elytra obsoletely punctate-striutr 

 femora unarmed. L. 2-2 f- mm. " ; the following is Thomson's descrip- 

 tion : "Broadly obovate, slightly convex, clothed rather sparingly wuh 

 depressed ashy hairs which are arranged in rows on the elytra, black ; 

 elytra strongly (sic) punctate-striate ; femora not stout, simple ; rostrum 

 not very elongate ; antennas with the third joint scarcely one and a half 

 times as long as fourth. L. 2-2| mm.," and he adds, " very like the 

 preceding ( M. cantptotulat) in general form and pubescence, but smaller, 

 with the rostrum shorter, very slightly narrowed at apex, and with the 

 third joint of antennae one and a half times as long as fourth " (whereas 

 in M. campanula it is twice as long) ; it may also be known by not 

 having the pygidium impressed in the female. 



According to Ferris the species occurs on the Continent on Helianthemum gutta- 

 tum in dry places ; two specimens only have been recorded as British ; they are 

 mentioned by Mr. Crotch (Entomologist i. 220) as having been captured by Mr. 

 T. V. \Volla*ton at Whitsand Ba< , Cornwall, and as being easily distinguished from 

 If. campanula! by the lightly striated elytra ; the insect, however, has not been found 

 either before or since, and requires further continuation as indigenous.) 



GYIttNETRON, Schonherr (JRhinusa, Stephens, pars.). 



According to the Munich catalogue this genus contains fifty species, 

 but in the European catalogue forty-seven are described from Europe 

 alone, so that a considerable proportion must have been comparatively 

 recently added, as representatives have been described from North and 

 South Africa, Central Asia, India, &c. ; Bedel includes Mecinus, which 

 is, however, better regarded as a separate genus ; the species certainly 

 bear a close relation to Gymnetron, but have quite a different facies ; 

 certain of the species belonging to the last named genus are very like 

 the members of the genus Miarus, from which they differ in having 

 the tarsal claws connate, the anterior coxae contiguous, and the pro- 

 sternum simple ; nine species are known as British which fall naturally 

 into two groups, one consisting of the three comparatively large and 

 broad species which closely resemble our species of Miarus, and the 

 other of much smaller species, which are in some cases more or less 

 variegated in colour. 



The larvae undergo their transformations in the capsules of various 

 plants (Veronica, Matrlcaria, Linaria, &c.), and in many instances 

 form galls. The sexual differences are usually marked ; as a general 

 rule the females have the rostrum less pubescent, more shining, and 

 lorrger than it is in the males, and in the latter sex the anterior 

 femora are, in several species, more or less dentate, whereas in the 

 females they are simple or almost simple ; the abdomen, moreover, in 

 the males is more or less plainly impressed at base. 



I. Third stria of the elytra joined to the eighth behind ; 

 form smaller and narrower. 



x 2 



