COLEOPTERA. 479 



the first, are evidently related by the ensemble of their cha- 

 racters to the (Edemerse, while the others, in a natural series, 

 appear to belong to the family of the Rhynchophora. The 

 head is considerably prolonged anteriorly in the form of an 

 elongated snout or flattened proboscis, bearing the antennae at 

 its base and before the eyes, which are always entire or une- 

 marginate. These Insects form a single genus, that of 



Mycterus. 



Sometimes the antennae are filiform and the snout is not widened 

 at the end; the thorax is narrowed before in the form of a truncated 

 cone or a trapezium; the ligula is emarginated, and the penultimate 

 joint of the tarsi bilobate. They are found on flowers, a habit indi- 

 cated by the silky prolongation of the terminal lobe of their maxillae. 



Stenostoma, Lat. Charp. Leptura, Fab. 



Where the body is narrow, and the thorax in the form of an elon- 

 gated truncated cone; the elytra are flexible, narrow, elongated and 

 contracted into a point; the antennae are composed of long and cylin- 

 drical joints, and the maxillary palpi are terminated by an almost 

 cylindrical joint, hardly thicker than the preceding ones(l). 



Mycterus, Clairv. Oliv. Bruchus, Rhinomacer, Fab. My labris, 



Schoeff., 



Or Mycterus properly so called, where the body is ovoid, solid, 

 covered by a silky down, and the thorax trapeziform. The abdo- 

 men is square, long, rounded posteriorly; the antennae are composed 

 of joints, mostly obconical, the complete number of which seems to 

 be twelve, the eleventh or last being abruptly narrowed and acumi- 

 nated, and the maxillary palpi are terminated by a larger joint in 

 the form of a reversed triangle(2). 



Sometimes the antennae are terminated by an elongated club form- 

 ed by the last three to five joints; the snout is much flattened, with 

 a salient angle on each side before the extremity; the thorax is in 

 the form of a truncated heart, narrowed posteriorly; the ligula is 

 entire, and so are all the joints of the tarsi. 



(1) (Edemera rostrata, Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect, II, p. 229; Stenostoma ros- 

 tratum, Charpent, Horse Entom.,lX, 8; S. variegatum, lb., 6; S.variegata, Germ., 

 Entom., Insect. Spec Nov., p. 167". 



(2) Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect., ii, p. 230, genus Rhinomacer. See Olivier, 

 Encyc. Method., article Myctere. 



