Introditction 13 



tions ha^'e been strongly attacked in Germany by Julius Weise ^ and 

 Otto Schwarz,-' and have received scant attention elsewhere. In 

 this connection the excellent drawing of the extruded genitalia of Brachya- 

 cantha by Grossbeck ^ should not be overlooked. The most striking 

 featui-e of Verhoeff's contribution seems to me his recognition of the 

 isolated position occupied by the Coccinellidse, for which he made a 

 sub-order Eleutheresiphona, based upon the genitalia, larval char- 

 acters and life histoiy. The subordinal rank of the family is not con- 

 ceded by any other author, as far as I know, but its separation as a 

 series from the other clavicorns, may be the outcome. 



Pierce ^ has revi^'ed the separation of the family Stylopidse as 

 an order, Strepsiptera, and has recently repeated the arguments in 

 favor of this course.'' This is cjuestionable, as they seem to lead quite 

 readily from a series composed of Mordellidse, RhipiphoridBe and Meloi- 

 dse, and connected, judging from larval characters, through the Mordel- 

 lidse with Lymexylidse. That they should have become highly specialized 

 would naturally follow from their parasitic habits. 



A similar separation was proposed for the parasitic Platypsyllidse 

 by Westwood, who called them Acreioptera, but has long since been 

 discarded. 



LARVAL CHARACTERS 



There has been much written about the larvse of Coleoptera, especi- 

 ally by the Danish and French authors, but there is no complete classi- 

 fication based on larval characters. The larvae of the primitive families 

 are either campodeaform, with elongate bodies, long legs, and anal cerci, 

 or blattoid, broader in outline, with expanded sides. In the Adephaga, 

 the legs terminate usually in two claws and according to some authors, 

 are composed of one more joint than in Polji^haga, but there are excep- 

 tions to the dual claw, and further studies of Adephagous larvae may 

 show other exceptions. In some primitive Poljqjhaga the larvse are 

 also campodeaform, but with only one claw. In Staphyliniformia, the 

 blattoid form often occm's and it is also seen in Psephenus; it becomes 

 therefore difficult to say which is the more primitive of the two forms 



• D. E. Z. 1894, pp. 15.5-157 also, D. E. Z. 1894, pp. 177-lSS; 1895, pp. 65-78. 

 2 D. E. Z. 1894, pp. 153-1.55; 1895, pp. 27-36. 

 'Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. XXX, 1911, p. 284. 



*A monographic revision of Strepsiptera (Bull. U. S. Nat. ]\Ius. No. 66, 1909, pp. 1-2.32.) 

 *The comparative morphology of the order Strepsiptera (PrOc. U. S. Nat. Mus. LIV, 1918, 

 pp. 391-501.) 



