612 Mr. J. O. Westwood on the Faussidce, 



appears to me unsuccessfully, to establish the passage from the 

 weevils to the Capricorn beetles. In the first and last of these 

 works the Faussidce are placed between the Scolitaires and Bos- 

 irichini; and in the second, between the Bostrichmi and the Tro- 

 gositarii. When we consider the very discordant structure of the 

 insects composing these families, — of which Mr. MacLeay has 

 well observed in the Annulosa Javanica, that they at present form 

 a most artificial assemblage, — it cannot be a matter of surprise 

 that the situation of the Faussidce should have been subject to such 

 continued change. It cannot, however, be denied, that it is one 

 of the most diflficult, although most interesting tasks of the natu- 

 ralist, and one in which (from the great number of links which 

 remain to be discovered,) the greatest caution is requisite to 

 trace the aflHnities of such anomalous animals as these, espe- 

 cially when they have been employed to effect the transition 

 between extensive groups of very distinct structure. 



Of the impropriety of Latreille's location of the majority of 

 the insects composing these various families between the Curcu- 

 lionidce and Cerambi/cidce, and upon their decided aflSnities with 

 many of the Necrophaga of MacLeay, especially the Eugida, I 

 shall refer the student to the various remarks of that author upon 

 the genera of the latter family in the An7iulosa Javanica. To him 

 the praise is due for pointing out these affinities, which Latreille 

 himself appears willing to admit in the new edition of the llegne 

 Animal, vol. v. p. 89. n. 4, where, speaking of the joints of the 

 tarsi of his family Xylophagi, comprising all these subfamilies, he 

 says : " Leur nombre paralt etre de cinq dans quelques. Ces 

 insectes semblent se lier avec les Cryptophages et autres in- 

 sectes analogues de la section des Pentameres." 



The student may also consult with advantage Curtis's Bri- 

 tish Entomology, genera Cryptophagus, Mycetophagiis, Tetra- 

 toma, Ciconis, and Bitoma. I cannot, however, here omit to 



remark. 



