144 OBSERYATIOXS OS LACORDAIRE. 



already combated Schonherr's views of their classification, 

 and now M. Lacordaire comes to expose, ab initio, an 

 entirely new arranofement. 



Before we proceed further it will be first necessary to take 

 some account of the organs and their modifications, which he 

 considers of sufficient ioiportance as to form the basis of 

 classification. With regard to the parts of the mouth, the 

 labium {languette) and the palpi are in tliis point of view 

 valueless, as also are the maxillae, and, to a certain extent, 

 the mandibles. The mentum is always received into an 

 emaro'ination of the submentum, and this connection is some- 

 times estabhshed by means of a peduncle between the two. 

 The presence or absence of this peduncle marks the first two 

 of the great divisions of the CurcuUonidce. The eyes are 

 variable as to form, but M. Lacordaire has observed a re- 

 markable relation between them and the sides of the pro- 

 thorax. In some cases these sides are more or less lobed, 

 and as the eyes elongate, becoming at the same time more 

 and more transverse, the lobes are developed in proportion ; 

 on the contrary, when the lobes do not exist, the eyes are 

 round or only very slightly oval. These lobes M. 

 Lacordaire designates the " ocular lobes." The prosternum 

 is generally entire, but in a great number of genera there is 

 an excavation more or less limited in depth and length, and 

 this in one of the largest groups, CryptorhynchincB, becomes 

 a deep canal, often extending to the mesosternum, and in 

 one genus, Panolcus, even to the extremity of the abdomen. 

 Space will not permit us to dwell on the numerous details 

 given by M. Lacordaire of these and other parts; indeed, 

 these and the generalizations which everywhere abound in 

 this and the preceding volumes are among not the least in- 

 teresting and useful portions of this remarkable work. 



But a character first noticed bv M. Suflfrian must not be 



