Goleopterological Notices^ VII. 655 



CIJRCULIONID^. 



Balaninini. 

 BAI^ANIlVrS Germ. 



The species having short beaks in both sexes are numerous 

 within the borders of the IJnited States, and have been onlj'- 

 superficially elaborated thus far ; the table given below is there- 

 fore confined to them alone. In the table published by Mr. 

 Blanchard (Bull. Bk. Ent. Soc, 1884, p. 106) this particular group 

 is represented by two species, obtusus and uniformis', confusor was 

 subsequently defined by Dr. Hamilton. Nine other species are 

 now added. The species having the beak of the female longer 

 than the body are far less numerous, and will probably not be 

 materially increased by future collecting. 



In determining the systematic position of the tribe Balaninini, 

 more weight should be given to ungual structure than to that of 

 the meso-parapleurffi, for, as I have elsewhere pointed out, the 

 oblique truncature of the humeri although the most constant and 

 characteristic peculiarity of the Barini, is not confined by any 

 means to that tribe but may appear in a more or less marked 

 form in several other sections of the Curculionidse, but, aside 

 from this, in point of fact the obliquity of humeral truncature in 

 the Balaninini is barely discernible, and is not at all comparable 

 with the conformation of these parts in the Barini. In the latter 

 tribe one of the most significant general characters is the sim- 

 plicity of the tarsal claws ; in the Anthonomini on the other hand, 

 the toothed modifications are one of the most characteristic fea- 

 tures, simplicity being the notable exception. In Balaninus the 

 claws are conspicuously toothed internally, and this, in conjunc- 

 tion with the general habitus of the body, would seem to deter- 

 mine its closer relationship with the Anthonomini. 



The following table includes only those species in which the 

 beak of the female is distinctly shorter than the body, and is con- 

 nected with the preceding section, containing those with the beak 

 of the female longer than the body, by nasicus, the latter bearing 

 a striking superficial resemblance to confusor, which is placed at 

 the head of the table : — 



Beak of the female as long as the elytra or longer, but never quite as Ion/ as 

 the body, that of the male much shorter. 



