314 RHYNCHOPHORA. [Antftonomina. 



claws almost always append iculate ; I have followed Thomson and Bedtl 

 in their arrangement, but it must be admitted that the tribe is not a 

 very strongly defined one, and by many authors the genera have been 

 included under other allied tribes ; the following characters may be 

 further noticed rostrum long, slender and filiform ; antennae 1 1-jointed ; 

 prosternum very short before the anterior coxae ; scutellum large ; elytra 

 with well-marked shoulders, sometimes dilated behind, pygidium covered ; 

 anterior legs longer than the rest, this character being sometimes very 

 strongly marked ; tibiae much shorter than femora, tarsal claws free ; 

 anterior coxae contiguous. 



I. Elytra, as a rule, at all events behind, considerably broader 

 than thorax, with the sides more or less rounded ; femora 

 nearly always toothed ; onychium longer with the tarsal 



claws larger ANTHONOMUS, Germ. 



II. Elytra subparallel, not much broader than thorax; 

 form subcylindrical ; femora simple; onyehium shorter 



with the tarsal claws very small BRACHONTX, Schonh. 



ANTHONOMUS, Germar. 



This genus contains more than a hunderd species which are widely 

 distributed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Cuba, Tahiti, 

 &c. ; they are easily known by the rather broad elytra, which, as a rule, 

 are somewhat dilated behind, the long or moderately long rostrum and the 

 slender antennas and elongated anterior legs, of which the femora are 

 usually more or less strongly toothed ; twenty-seven are found in Europe, 

 of which eight or nine are usually reckoned as British ; they present in 

 some cases considerable difficulty in their determination, and it is some- 

 what doubtful whether they can be all regarded as distinct. 



The larvae of most of the species attack the buds of various fruit trees in early 

 spring; a few are attached to Rubi, and some to different flowers; an interesting 

 account is given by Chapuis and Candeze (Cat. des Larves dea Coleopteres, p. 216) 

 of the life history of A. pomorum ; the perfect insects hibernate under the bark, 

 especially in the cracks of the bark in old trees, and in the first warm days of spring 

 come out upon the boughs ; the females then proceed to perforate one of the buds 

 and deposit an egg in its interior ; one egg only is laid in each bud ; the develop- 

 ment of the bud is not, or only partially, checked, and the young larva finds 

 itself in the flower, of which it soon devours the stamens, pistil and ovury or young 

 fruit; when full grown it fastens the petals together and forms a sort of case in 

 which it undergoes its further transformations ; in thirty or forty days the perfect 

 insect emerges from the pupa and cuts a hole through the case and escapes ; in most 

 cases the flower does not entirely open, after the bud is attacked, so that the insect is 

 contained in a more or less distinct case for the greater part or the whole of its 

 existence. 



Occasionally great damage is done by these weevils in cider-producing 

 counties ; such was especially the case in 1816, 1831, 1832 and 1838 ; 

 the best method of prevention is to keep the orchard as free from old 

 trees as possible, as these are particularly attractive for hibernation : I 

 have found them in such trees in some numbers near the Forest of Dean 



