BIOLOGIA CENTRALI-AMERICANA. 
ZOOLOGIA. 
Class INSECTA. 
Order COLEOPTERA. 
Tribe RHYNCHOPHORA. 
Fam. BRENTHID. 
This family of Rhynchophora consists at present of about 500 species. About 
125 have been found in our province. The very large proportion of forms found in 
Central America is due to the fact that the family is almost peculiar to the forests 
of the tropics, and that few species are known from Africa. Hence the larger part by 
far of the known species have been procured from the Neotropical region, and from 
Madagascar and the Indo-Malay regions. A comparison of the number of our species 
with that found in any one of the above regions would probably show no great 
disproportion to exist. 
The Brenthide include many very strange forms, conspicuous on account of their 
long narrow shape. They are also remarkable for the great disparity between the sexes. 
Indeed it is probable that the neglect of these insects by entomologists is due to this, 
combined with the almost complete absence of species from the European and North- 
American faunas. ‘The classification in vogue is based entirely on the males, and is 
far from satisfactory. Hence nothing of any value can be said as to the geographical 
distribution of the genera and groups of genera. Most of the species of our region 
are apparently distinct from those of South America. The majority of the Brenthide 
described from the South-American continent are, however, from Brazil; so that it 
is possible that when the species of the northern parts of that continent are better 
known many of the Central-American forms may be found there. Some of the 
species of Brenthide are already known to have a very extensive range, Brenthus 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. LV. Pt. 6, May 1895. BB 
