ANTHRIBIDZA., 299 
Fam. ANTHRIBIDA*. 
Judging from the great number of new genera and species which are constantly 
being discovered, we know only a small percentage of the Anthribide actually in 
existence. With some exceptions, the species are not found in large numbers of 
individuals, owing to their habits and, to no less extent, to their great resemblance to 
the bark of trees on which they occur. The present treatise offers an illustration 
of the great increase in the number of known species of Anthribide when a tropical 
district has been more exhaustively examined. Hardly three dozen forms were 
known from Central America, while the material now before me comprises close 
on 200 species. That these do not fully represent the Anthribid fauna of Central 
America is abundantly evident from the high percentage of species found only 
in single specimens. ‘The material from Mexico and Costa Rica is especially meagre, 
Guatemala and Chiriqui being the best explored districts, having yielded by far 
the larger number of species here enumerated. The erection of new genera has 
been restricted as far as it was possible to do so without obscuring the generic division 
of the family. The number of forms common to Central and South America is very 
small. However, it is hardly possible to obtain at present a correct idea of the 
distribution of the various species, nor is the material extensive enough for a study 
of the geographical variability of these insects. ‘These are questions which can be 
fruitfully entered into only when we know more Anthribids and are better acquainted 
with them. As regards the classification of the family we are likewise suffering from 
a lack of sufficient material. ‘The exposition of it given by Lacordaire in his admirable 
work ‘Genera des Coléopteres,’ vii. (1866), is naturally somewhat antiquated, the 
division into small groups of genera as therein given, moreover, not being tenable. 
The main division of the Anthribide into two subfamilies, however, is, in my opinion, 
quite correct, the Pleurocerine, with a lateral antennal groove, being well distin- 
guished from the Anocerine, with a dorsal antennal groove. Though this grouping 
is natural, some care is necessary in drawing the line correctly. There are a number 
of Pleurocerine in which the upper edge of the antennal groove is not distinctly 
carinate, or in which this carinate edge is moved dorsad, the groove being open in 
dorsal aspect. These forms may easily be mistaken for Anocerine. | 
I have abstained at present from further dividing the Pleurocerine, which subfamily 
comprises the bulk of the family, into groups of genera—a difficult task, which must 
be postponed till we have collected sufficient facts to attempt a general classification 
* By Kart Jorpayn, Ph.D., F.ES. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. IV. Pt. 6, April 1906. 2RR 
