CUKCULIONIDjE. 
387 
Apionince. —The genus Apion includes a vast number of tiny 
beetles with straight antennae and marked sexual differences, found 
almost over the globe. The colours are black, brown, blue, red or 
metallic. A number of Indian species are known, but the discrimina¬ 
tion of species is very difficult. Apion gagatinum, Mots., is a common 
plains species on grass. A. strobilanthi, Desb., is described from seeds 
of Strobilanthus in Sikkim, an unusual habit for a member of this 
genus (Ind. Mus. Notes, Vol. II, p. 32). Another species lives in 
the stems of jute in India. 
Fig. 264.— Leaf case of 
Apoderus blandus, 
MAGNIFIED. 
Attelabince. —The genus Apoderus contains the weevils in which 
the head and sometimes the prothorax is drawn out into a long neck 
(Plate XXVII, figs. 7, 8). These weevils 
prepare cases of green leaf ; the leaf is cut 
across near the base, the cut reaching from 
each margin to the midrib or crossing the 
midrib from one margin only; the leaf 
is then folded longitudinally, and the tip 
rolled in ; an egg is laid and the rolling 
process continued till the leaf, up to the 
cut, forms a compact cylindrical mass, 
consisting of tightly rolled and folded leaf 
blade, with the egg in the centre ; no silk or 
gum is used and the insect works with legs 
and jaws in folding and packing the leaf; 
the roll is left adhering to the remainder of the leaf, the egg hatches 
and the grub feeds on the leaf inside the roll. The roll subsequently 
dries and falls off with the pupa inside. We figure the case of 
Apoderus blandus, Schonh., madeonSissu. Eggs laid on 25th June, 
hatched on the 28th, the larvae pupated by the 30th and weevils emerged 
from the 3rd to the 7th July ; the life-history is thus a very brief one 
and there are apparently two broods during the rains, the second 
being a hibernation brood in which the larva remains for the winter in 
the case. A. tranquebaricus , Fabr., in South India rolls the leaf of the 
country almond ( Terminalia catappa) and the habit has been observed 
in a number of species in the sub-tropical zone of India. Over 30 
species are known in India, in the genera Apoderus , Attelabus, and 
Rhynchites. 
