CLASSIFICATION OF COLEOPTERA. 123 



Ganglbauer,* of Vienna. Each of these distinguished system- 

 atists has given us a classification of his own, based on views in 

 regard to the phylogeny and relationship of the different groups 

 and families. Ganglbauer, whose paper came last, was enabled 

 to give a full account, accompanied by rather searching criticism, 

 of the classifications of his two predecessors. 



Professor Kolbe has since modified his views to some extent, 

 as shown in a subsequent publication, t wherein he has revised 

 his classification and entered more largely into the arguments in 

 its favour. 



The three classifications, that of Ganglbauer and the later 

 ones of Lameere and Kolbe, differ from each other in certain 

 important respects, which is not strange considering the great 

 difficulties the subject presents ; but they have also some very 

 important points of agreement, and this may be considered a 

 great gain to the systematics of the Coleoptera. 



The differences are due largely to the relative value assigned 

 by each to the principal characters taken into consideration ; and 

 as some of these characters had not been used before to any 

 great extent in the classification of the Coleoptera, it may be 

 well, first, to point out what they are, and to call attention to the 

 different interpretations that have been or may be placed upon 

 them. 



Wing-venation.~A.\thoi\gh it was not until quite recently that 

 the wing-venation has been made to play any considerable part 

 in the classification of the beetles, its study had not altogether 

 been neglected. Burmeister, for example, had shown that the 

 families Carabida3, Paussid^e, Dytiscidre, and Gyrinidte, possessed 

 in common a characteristic type of wing-venation differing from 

 that of other beetles, and on this ground had placed them 

 together in the group Adephaga. Otto Eoger, as the result of his 

 study of the wing-venation from a phylogenetic point of view, 

 came to the conclusion that the Malacoderms represented an 

 ancient type from which all other beetles, except the Adephaga, 

 might be derived. The Adephaga he considered to be a very 

 ancient type, which had already branched off from the common 

 stem before the Malacoderms had arrived at a stage represented 

 by any existing forms. So that here was already suggested a 

 division of the Coleoptera into two main groups : the Adephaga 

 on the one side, and the Malacoderms and their derivatives on 

 the other. As will be seen later on, a division of the Coleoptera 

 into two suborders, the Adephaga and the Polj^phaga, seems to 

 be well justified on other grounds. 



In addition to the type characteristic of the Adephaga, two 



* " Systematisch-Koleopterologiscbe Studien," in Miinch. Kol. Zeit. i. 

 p. 271 (1903). 



f " Mein System der Coleopteren," in Zcitschrift fiir wissensch. Insekten- 

 biol. (1908,1. 



k2 



