NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE WEEVILS OF THE 

 OTIORHYNCHID GENUS MESAGROICUS 



By L. L. Buchanan, 



Of the United States Biological Siirvey 



Up to the present time the weevil genus Mesagroicus has been 

 recorded only from the palaearctic regions, where a total of about 20 

 species are known. The single hitherto described American species is 

 Tierricki Pierce, for which its author proposed the unnecessary generic 

 name Lepidocricus — lierricki being closely related to a rather common 

 European species, Mesagroicus ohscurus Boheman.^ Pierce's descrip- 

 tion of Lepidocricus Tierricki, together with two or three subsequent 

 references to it, comprise the entire American literature on the group. 



It was of especial interest, therefore, to find among some undeter- 

 mined material in the United States National Museum collection a 

 considerable number of North American specimens belonging to 

 Mesagroicus. These specimens represent several well-marked species, 

 widely distributed over the United States, and doubtless present, in 

 greater or less numbers, in every large beetle collection of the country. 

 Under the circumstances, it seemed worth while to undertake a re vi- 

 sional study of all our native species, in order that a widespread but 

 almost wholly neglected element of the North American weevil fauna 

 may be more generally recognized. 



The material examined is largely from the collection of the United 

 States National Museum, supplemented by a number of specimens 

 received from other sources. The writer is indebted in particular to 

 H. F. Wickham and E. T. Cresson, jr., for the loan of material, and 

 to Mary Foley Benson, of the Bureau of Entomology, for the care- 

 fully prepared and characteristic drawings of herricM and elongatus. 

 Types of the species here described as new are deposited, one in 

 the Philadelphia Academy, the remainder (eight) in the National 



Museum. 



Genus MESAGROICUS Schonherr 



Mesagroicus Schonherr, Gen. et Sp. Curculionidum, vol. 6, part 1, 1840, p. 281 

 (Genotype, Thylacites piliferus Boheman as designated by Schonherr). — 

 Lacordaire, Gen. Col., vol. 6, 1863, p. 72. — Jacquelin du Val, Gen. des Col. 



'Twelve exotic species of Mesagroicus have been examined; two or three of them show a striking super- 

 ficial resemblance to some of the American species, but no case of actual identity was observed. 



No. 2801— Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 76, Art. 4 



41437—29 1 



