330 RHYNCHOPHOBA. \AcallcS. 



remain motionless, and may in this state be easily passed over as bits of 

 earth or fragments of wood ; they bear a strong affinity to Cryptorrliyn- 

 chus, but are very much smaller, and have the scutellum wanting or 

 almost invisible, and the episternaof metasternum indistinct or concealed 

 by the elytra. 



The three British species very closely resemble one another, but may 

 be distinguished as follows : 



I. Upper surface without or with very short raised setae. 

 i. Thorax uneven with u broad central furrow ; average 



size larger A.BOBORIS, Curtis. 



ii. Thorax comparatively smooth without central 



furrow ; average size smaller A. PTINOIDES, Marsh. 



II. Upper surface with broad raised setaa, which are dis- 



tinctly visible if the insect is viewed sideways . . . A. THREAT-US, Boh. 



(misellus, Boh.) 



A. roboris, Curtis (abstersus, Boh., Thorns.). Subovate, pitchy 

 black, thickly clothed with round depressed ashy scales, upper surface 

 rough and uneven, dull ; rostrum stout, bare, ferruginous, with scales at 

 base ; vertex of head and two slightly elevated tufts on the fore part of 

 the thorax black ; antennae ferruginous ; thorax narrower than elytra, 

 about as long as broad, narrowed before apex, truncate at base, slightly 

 rounded at sides, with a deep broad depressed channel in middle, and un- 

 even at sides ; scutellum scarcely visible ; elytra somewhat variegated 

 obscurely, rounded at sides and narrowed at apex, with the shoulders 

 not prominent, striae deeply and coarsely punctured, interstices narrow 

 and convex, furnished, especially towards apex, with very short erect 

 dark scales, the third and fifth elevated towards apex into a blunt 

 tubercle ; underside pitchy ; legs stout, ferruginous. L. 2f-4 mm. 



By beating dead twigs of oaks, &c. ; in hedges in woods ; local, but not uncom- 

 mon in some districts ; Darenth Wood ; Bexley, Kent ; Hertford ; Suffolk ; Wicken 

 .Fen; Deal; Hastings district; Amberley, near Arundel ; Portsmouth district; 

 Llangollen ; Canuock Chase; Buddon Wood, Leicestershire; Robins Wood, Reptou ; 

 Scotland, very rare, Forth district, " Roslin, Dr. Greville and Rev. W. Little," 

 Murray's Cat. 



A. ptinoides, Marsh. Pitchy castaneoiis, rugose, with large punc- 

 tures which are partially filled with ashy or ochreous slightly erect 

 scales, forming in fresh specimens four indistinct lines on thorax, and 

 collected into more or less distinct transverse bands on elytra ; the mark- 

 ings, however, are often very indistinct ; rostrum, antennae and legs 

 reddish, the former slightly curved, punctured; thorax slightly longer 

 than broad, with the sides rounded, and somewhat constricted before 

 apex, disc almost even, punctuation much less coarse than that of elytra; 

 elytra deeply striated, the striae being coarsely punctured, interstices 

 narrow and convex, second and fourth slightly elevated, with two oblong 

 black tufts of scales on each (in fresh specimens); the average smaller 

 size, longer and more even thorax, and the absence of tubercles at the 



