12 CUECULIONID^. 



small, being always shorter vertically than the depth of the 

 rostrum (fig. 1, b, d), while in the Phanerognaxhi this is very 

 rarely the ease. In the former section there are two fairly well- 

 marked types of eyes, which are correlated with the development 

 of the postocular lobe on the front margin of the prothorax. 

 "When the lobe is absent, the eyes are rounded or short oval and 

 usually convex, sometimes being very prominent, as in the 

 African Podionops and Ectatopsides and in some Indian species 

 ■of Dereodus. When the lobe is present, it frequently covers a 

 portion of the eye when the head is retracted, so that in these 

 cases the eye is more or less flattened and it is apt to be longer 

 vertically and somewhat pointed below. In some Tanyrrhyn- 

 ■CHIN.5; the eyes assume a very remarkable position, being placed 

 close together on the upper surface of the base of the rostrum. 

 In certain groups of which the species run about fairly actively 

 on tree-trunks and leaves, such as the Zygopin.i;, the eyes meet 

 or are closely approximated on the upper surface of the head, 

 of which they occupy the greater part ; on the other hand, in 

 the Calandeix.t: and some allied groups the eyes nearly meet 

 on the lower surface and are widely separated above (fig. 1, e), 

 while in some Rhina (Sipalix^e) they occupy the whole of the 

 front part of the head, meeting above and below. I know of 

 only one exception to the rule that the eyes are bare, namely, 

 •a recently described South African genus, AncJionocranus 

 (Erirriiinin.Ti), whicl> has numerous erect scale-like setie between 

 the coarse facets. A number of genera are known in which 

 the eyes are mucli reduced, or even entirely absent, especially 

 among the Cossoxi?s^je. 



Frothorax. — Reference has already been made to the general 

 consolidation of the sclerites of the prothorax, and another out- 

 standing feature of this segment is the absence of the sharp 

 carina separating the dorsal from the lateral surfaces, which is 

 so common in the Coleoptera. The only exceptions are to be 

 found in two American genera, Oxycorynus and Fterocolus, in 

 which this carina is well defined. The presence or absence of a 

 lobe on the anterior margin of the prothorax just below the eye 

 affords a useful systematic character, as also does the relative 

 position of the front coxal cavities. Lacordaire used the se- 

 paration of the front coxse as the essential character for a very 

 large group of Piianerogitathi, but he himself recognised that 

 this was the weakest spot in his ^^•hole system, and the excep- 

 tions are so numerous that his arrangement in that section will 

 certainly need radical modification. But considerable taxouomic 

 value attaches to tlie various forms of the deep pectoral channel 

 which is possessed by the Crypxoerhynchin.t: for the reception 

 of the rostrum. This may be confined to the presternum, and 

 on the other hand it may extend as far as the metasternum, 

 while in one South American genus (Panolcus) it actually reaches 

 the end of the abdomen. 



Elytra. — The elytra are always strongly chitinised and never 

 remarkably shortened, though in many groups the pygidium is 



