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Show 496 INSECTA. BRucnus, Lin. Which is subdivided as follows: Those species in which the antennre are clavate, or very evidently larger at the extremity, where the eyes are unemarginated, and where the four anterior tarsi appear to consist of five joints, form the genus RHINOSIMUS, which, agreeably to this character, we have placed among the Heteromcra, but which is allied to the following subgenus by many others. Those which, with similar antennre and eyes, have but four joints to all the tarsi and the penultimate bilobate, re-enter that of ANTHRIBus, Geoff. Fab. ( 1) To which may be united the RMnomaceres of Olivier(2). These Insects are usually found in old wood-others live on flowers. In BRuoHus, Fab. Oliv.-Mylabris, Geoff. Or Bruchus proper, the antennre are filiform and frequently ser· rated or pectinated; the eyes are emarginated. The anus is exposed, and the posterior legs are usually very large. The females deposit an egg in the yet diminutive and tender germ of various leguminous cerealia, of the Coffee-tree, Palms, &c., where the larva lives and is metamorphosed. To obtain an issue the perfect Insect detaches a portion of the epidermis in the form of a cap, thus producing those holes but too often found in peas, beans, dates, &c.(3) The perfect Insect is taken on flowers. B. pisi, L.; Oliv., Col., IV, 79, 1, 6, a, d. Length two lines; black; base of the antennre and part of the legs fulvous; elytra dotted with grey; a whitish cruciform spot on the anus. A very noxious little Insect, that in certain seasons has occa· sioned much damage in North America( 4). The (1) The Macrocephala, Oliv., Col., IV, 80; the .llntltribes, Nos. 1-3, of Geof. froy-.llnthrilJus latirostris, varius, scabrosus, Fab. (2) Oliv., Col. V, 87. The Rhino. lepturoides, atelaboides, Fab. The penulti· mate joint of the tarsi is not between the lobes of the preceding one, a circum· stance which distinguishes them from Anthribus. (3) These habits are also common to certain small species of Anthribus. I have not noticed the genus Rltimaria of Kirby, because I have no precise idea of it characters. In so concise a work as this, it is impossible for me to give all the generic, or subgen~ric sections of M. Schamherr, without stepping beyond my prescribed limits. (1·) For the other species, see Fabricius and Olivier, Ibid. The B. rtifiptl of COLEOPTERA . 497 RH.l£Bus, Fisch. Is distinguished. from Bruchus by the flexible elytra and bifid hooks of the tarsi( 1 ). 1 he · XYLoPuu.us, Bonnelli, Is removed from it by the pal pi, which are 'clavate(2). The others have no apparent labrum; the palpi ·arc extreme! small, har.dly p~rce~tible to the naked eye, and conic.al; the antcrio~ prolongatiOn of the1r head resembles a rostrum or proboscis. Sometimes the antennre are at once straight, inserted on the rostrum, and consist of nine or ten joints. Those, in which the three or four last joints are united into a club form the genus ' ArTEL~nus, Lin., and more particularly of :Fab.-Becmares, · . Geoff. They attack the leaves or most tender parts of plants. Most of the females roll up these leaves into a tube or cornet, in which they deposit their eggs, thus preparing a domicil for eir young ones, which also furnishes them with food. The proportions of the rostrum, the manner in which it termi· nates, as well as the tibire and form of the abdomen, have given rise to the four following subgenera: APODERus, ArrELA'Bus, RHYN· OHITEs, and APION. The first is the most distinct. The head of these Insects is narrowed posteriorly, or presents a sort of neck, and is united to the thorax by a kind of rotula. Thdr snout is short th 1. ck, and widened at the end, a character common to Attelabus,' properly so called, but where the head, as in the two other subgenera, is recived into the thorax up to the eyes. Here the snout is elongated into the form of a proboscis. In Rhynchites, it is some· what widened at the end, and the abdomen is almost square. R. Bacchus, Herbst.; Oliv., Col. V, 81, ii, 27. Cupreous-red and pubescent; antennre and extremity of the probo:;cis black: The larva of this species lives in the rolled leaves of the the latter, so common in the vicinity of Paris on various species of Reseda, forms the genus Urodon of Schamherr. The antennce terminate in three thicker joints forming a elub. (1) Rhtebus Gebleri, Fisch., Entomog. Imp. Russ., 11, 178, xlvii, 1. (2) The ./J.nthicu& populneus, oculatua, pygm~us, of Gyllenhal. Vot. III.-3 N |
