SI'oXDVLIDAE. 



279 



Fam. LXIII.— S POND YLI DAE. 



I would unite, under this name all the aberrant Cerambycidae 

 of Lacordaire, whether classed with the Prionidae or Ceramby- 

 cida3. By Mr. Thomson they have been in part separated as 

 distinct families, under the general name Subcerambycidse : he 

 has, however, excluded Spondylis from them and retained it with 

 Scaphinus among the Cerambycidse. 



It seems a more natural view to regard them as sub-families 

 (or tribes, as the case may be), having the same relation to each 

 other as the sub-families and tribes of the Cerambycidae, and re- 

 presenting in the modern fauna the last remnants of the pro- 

 phetic, synthetic, or undifferentiated* types of a former geological 

 age. They are, therefore, few in number, without very obvious 

 relations with each other, or with the numerous forms of Ceram- 

 bycidae, with which they cannot be intercalated, without inter- 

 rupting the obvious series of relationships. 



They may be briefly described as extraordinary forms, differing 

 not only in appearance from other Longicorns, but also by the 

 tarsi being all deprived of the brush of hair beneath; the 3d joint 

 not bilobed, entire or feebly emarginate, the 4th joint frequently 

 well-developed ; the antennae are short, with the scape very short, 

 much constricted at base, inserted at the side of the head near the 

 base of the mandibles, under a more or less developed ridge ; 

 2d joint rather large, though smaller than the 3d. In our two 

 sub-families the poriferous system of the antennas is contained in 

 deep fovea?, differing in shape according to the genus. The other 

 characters vary, as may be seen by the table in Thomson, Syst. 

 Cerambyc, 312. 



Two sub-families exist in our fauna: — 

 Prothorax margined ; labrum connate. Paraxdrid^. 



Prothorax not margined ; labrum free. Spondylid^e. 



* These three appellations will be acceptable according to the meta- 

 physical school to which the leader may belong. I write not to sustain 

 a theory, but merely to present facts in such relation with other facts, as 

 enables them to he most conveniently classified. The result is the same 

 whatever hypothesis be adopted. 



19 May, 1S73. 



