690. 

 OTIORHYNCHUS MAURUS. 



Order Coleoptera. FAM.Curculionidaj — Otiorhynchides,Sc^o» 



Type of the Genus, Curculio tenebricosus Herb. 

 Otiorh YNCHUsGerm., Scho., Curt. — BrachyrhinusXaL — Pachygaster 

 Dej. — Curculio Linn., Fab., Gyll. 



Antenna inserted in small cavities on each side of the apex of 

 the rostrum, longer than the head and thorax, often slender, 

 geniculated, 12-jointed, basal joint as long as the head, clavate, 

 the remainder pubescent, 2nd long, 3rd longer and a little slen- 

 derer, 5 following obovate, the remainder forming an elongate- 

 ovate club, of which the basal joint is the longest (6). 

 Mandibles large, concavo-convex, subtrigonate-ovate, outer mar- 

 gin sinuated (2). 



Maxilla terminating in an ovate lobe armed with strong linear 

 spines, beneath which is a long bunch of conniving bristles : 

 outside produced into a horny lobe. Palpi comparatively long, 

 triarticulate, basal joint a little the largest, ovate-truncate, 2nd 

 oblong, 3rd the smallest, elongate-ovate (3). 

 Mentum rather large and obovate, producing 4 large bristles be- 

 fore. Palpi very short and stout, scarcely projecting beyond 

 the mentum, biarticulate, basal joint transverse, bristly, 2nd 

 semiorbicular (4). 

 Rostrum short and very stout, porrected, dilated at the apex, with a 

 short and broad groove on each side to receive the antennee (7 upper 

 side, * the profile) : head broadest at the base, semiovate: eyes rather 

 small, remote, orbicular, slightly convex, not touching the Thorax, 

 which is as long as the head and rostrum, and nearly twice as broad 

 in the middle, convex, orbicular or ovate, the anterior and basal mar- 

 gins truncated : scutel minute. Elytra connate, thrice as long as the 

 thorax and twice as broad, convex and ovate, the apex sometimes co- 

 nical. Wings none. Legs nearly equal : thighs clavate, simple or 

 dentated : tibiae flexuose, the apex pectinated, dilated and trigonate, 

 except in the anterior, in which they are merely produced internally ; 

 a series of short spines on the inside : tarsi 4-jointed, very pilose be- 

 neath, basal joint the longest, 2nd short, both obtrigo?iate, 3rd bi- 

 lobed, 4th slender and clavate : claws rather small curved and acute 

 (5, afore leg). 



Matjrus Gyll.— Curt. Guide, Gen. 372. 16. 



Shining black or piceous, with short scattered whitish depressed 

 bristles ; head and rostrum rugose, the centre concave, with a 

 ridge down the middle : thorax coarsely but regularly granu- 

 lated : elytra slightly wrinkled and punctured, with catenulated 

 striae, and numerous small faint patches formed of yellowish 

 pubescence : antennae and legs more or less castaneous. 

 In the Author s and other Cabinets. 



Of all the beetles that are injurious to the gardener, none per- 

 haps are more destructive than some of the Otiorhynchi, and 

 amongst them O.picipes is eminently so: the mischief is done 



