INTRODUCTION. 1 3" 



freely exposed. In the vast majority of species they bear im- 

 pressed lines, or striae, containing rows of punctures, the normal, 

 number of these strice being 10, of which the outer or tenth* is 

 often visible only in the basal half. The presence of a true 

 shoulder often affords a useful distinction, and it is very con- 

 stantly correlated with the possession of fully developed wings. 

 Leconte has used for some of his lai'ger subdivisions of the familv 

 a character which has been quite neglected by other authors, 

 namely, the presence or absence of a strong carina near the 

 outer margin of the elytra on their under surface, which evi- 

 dently engages with the concealed chitinised margin of the 

 ventral segments, thus giving much greater rigidity to the body. 

 As he has employed it, the character is subject to exceptions 

 which render it distinctly unsatisfactory, but there can be little 

 doubt that it will furnish some useful distinctions when it has 

 been examined in a larger number of genera. In many wing- 

 less species the elytra are fused together along the suture, and 

 in some cases (BkachycerijSM) they are more or less soldered 

 laterally to the sides of the sternum. 



Wings. — The venation of the hind wings in the Curculionid.e 

 has not been sufficiently studied to enable it to be utilised for 

 purposes of classification, though it will probably yield interestnig 

 results when more fully investigated. The mere presence or 

 absence of wings is a character of unequal reliability. In vai'ious 

 genera there are both winged and wingless species, but, on the 

 other hand, the absence of wings is frequently correlated with 

 terrestrial habits, which are often characteristic of deiinite groups 

 of genera. Some authors have divided the Adelognathi into two- 

 primary sections on this character, but the result is certainly 

 unsatisfactor}', as two heterogeneous assemblages are formed, 

 while obviously related species are widely separated. But for 

 minor divisions this distinction is probably valid. 



Lef/s. — The femora are rarely linear, being usually more or less 

 clavate or dilated in the distal half and often bearing a tooth on 

 the under surface. In only two genera containing small or 

 minute species, Rhyncluenus (Orchestes) and llliamphus, are the 

 insects able to jump, and the hind femora are consequently 

 thickened. The tibiae are frequently armed with spurs at the 

 apex ; when tliere is a spur or mucro at the inner angle, the 

 tibia is described as mucro nate ; and when the outer angle is 

 produced so as to form a curved hook, it is called unguiculate. 

 The tarsi are frequently attached to the tibiae in a truncate area 

 at the apex of the latter, which is usually very oblique ; this 

 area is known as the corbel, and the forms which it assumes in 

 the hind tibiae are of considerable systematic importance. 



The tarsi are ap])arently 4-jointed, except in Drjiophthoms, in 

 which they are distinctly 5-jointed, but in many cases traces of 



* The intervals are also nmiibered outwards, the space between the suture 

 and the first stri;\i beiug the first iuterral. 



