CURCULIONID^. 



Family CURCULIONIDiE. 



The real foundations of our luiowledge of this multitudinous 

 family of beetles were first laid in the monumental work pro- 

 duced by the four eminent Swedish entomologists, Schcinherr, 

 Boheman, Gyllenhal and Fahraeus (' Genera et Species Curcu- 

 lionidum', vols, i-viii, 1833-45), in which 603 genera and some 

 6550 species were described, only between 600 and 700 species 

 having been known previously. The only subsequent attempt 

 to survey the CrRCULiONiDiE of the world as a whole is contained 

 in Lacordaire's ' Genera des Coleoptures ' (vols, vi & vii, 1863 

 & 1866). In this work he recognised 834 genera, which were 

 divided into 82 " tribes " or subfamilies. His classification was 

 based on thoroughly sound lines and was an immense advance 

 on Schonherr's superficial arrangement of the family. It is 

 true that many modifications in his system have been rendered 

 necessary as a result of the enormous increase in the number 

 of described genera and species during the last fifty years, but 



Fig. 1. — Heads of : a, h, Episomus suhnitens. Melil., dorsal and lateral views, 

 showing tbo subdorsal scrobe directed towards the eye, characteristic of 

 the Otiorrhynchinse ; c, d, Astycifs chrysochlorus, W'ied., dorsal and 

 lateral views, showing the linear, lateral and downward!}- curved aerobe, 

 characteristic of the Brachyderina' ; c, ,/'. Sipalvs hyfocrita, Boh., 

 ventral and lateral views, with the scrobe running beneath the rostrum ; 

 V, vibriss£e. 



nevertheless Lacordaire's classification, on account of its com- 

 prehensive character, remains to-day the standard one for the 

 student who has to deal with the weevils of any fauna other 

 than those of Europe or North America. 



AS'^lieu Gemminger and von Harold published their Catalogue 

 of the Curculionidae in 1871, the number of described species 

 known to them amounted to 10,150, and there can be little 

 doubt that the number to-day would run to well over 20,000. 

 A thorough revision of this large assemblage of geiiera, already 

 much overdue, is essential for a true appreciation of their inter- 

 relationships, but such a task was quite impossible in connexion 

 with the preparation of the present volume, and the altei-native 



