March, 1917-] Proceedings of the Society. 83 



antenna is usually pubescent and highly sensitive; the funicle ... is 

 composed of seven, rarely fewer joints. The next and final step in 

 antennal development is manifested in various directions, either as 

 unusual forms or scape, or by reduction in the number of funicular 

 joints, by loss of pubescense on parts of the antenna, or by enlarge- 

 ments or unusual forms of the club. Important among these final 

 developments is the enlargement of the first joint of the club instead 

 of being approximately equal to the other two. . . ." By this last 

 character the authors would prefer to recognize the Calandridae of 

 Leconte and Horn as a distinct family, but out of deference to the 

 opinion of others, refrain from doing so. Finally, in the Scolytidse 

 " developments begun in Calandrinse are continued and variations 

 multiplied. In one group the scape becomes sexually clothed with 

 long hair, in another the funicle is reduced to a single joint; the 

 sutures of the club are often obsolete, and its surface becomes in 

 part corneous, while the form of the club often varies, at times 

 assuming grotesque proportions." 



For more than a generation the beginner has been deterred from 

 the study of Rhynchophora by the difficulty attached to the family 

 keys published by Leconte and Horn. Not only must both sexes 

 be at hand in order to use those keys, but the under surface of the 

 elytra must be examined for an " inner fold," and as to whether this 

 fold, if present, is "feeble" or "strong" in the opinion of 'the 

 authors. Hayward's Classification of the families of Coleoptera, 

 published in 1909 (but prepared prior to his death in 1906) merely 

 repeats Leconte and Horn's key, with the addition of the Brenthidse 

 which was accidently omitted by those authors. Probably in no 

 single respect is the present volume more satisfactory than in sub- 

 stituting for this old key to the families, an entirely new one \i^hich 

 can be readily applied by anybody. 



W. D. Pierce, who has been the most prolific writer on North 

 American Rhynchophora in recent years, stated in 1909 that the most 

 recent writers on the Rhynchophora seem to agree in the main in 

 considering only four families — Curculionidse, Anthribidae, Bren- 

 thidse and Ipidse (Scolytidse). Pierce "for the time being" adopted 

 that arrangement, and it has been followed, with commendable judg- 

 ment by Blatchley and Leng. More recently Pierce has drifted 

 toward a much more radical classification, and in this has been 



