THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 11 



transverse, and acuminate at the lower end; mandibles stout, 

 short, more prominent in Brachycerus, where they have the 

 lower margin more produced into a cutting edge ; the front 

 surface is rough and somewhat angular, but without any trace 

 of the rounded scar seen in Otiorhynchidae; the scutellum is 

 scarcely visible; the elytra, as above mentioned, are ventri- 

 cose, irregularly tuberculate or costate, very much extended 

 on the flanks, so as to cover the side pieces of the mesothorax 

 and metathorax, greatly deflexed behind ; the lateral groove 

 of the inner face is deep and narrow, becoming wider and 

 obsolete behind; the dorsal segments are membranous, 

 except the last, which is corneous, and divided in the male 

 into two, as in Curculionidce ; the ventral segments are sepa- 

 rated by deep sutures, of which the first is sinuate ; the 3rd 

 and 4th segments are shorter than the others ; the lateral 

 extension upwards is narrow, and but slightly wider behind; 

 the front coxaj are contiguous, prominent, and subconical; 

 the tibiaj are not dilated ; the spurs are small, fixed, pro- 

 jecting inwards; the tarsi 4-jointed, narrow, setose, and feebly 

 concave beneath (Brachycerus) ; pubescent, concave, and 

 emarginate beneath (Microcerus) ; claws large, simple, distant. 



BYRSOPID.E. 



The third of the anomalous families has a more general 

 distribution, and is represented in our Fauna by the genus 

 Thecesternus, which forms a separate tribe, distinguished 

 from the other tribes by the prosternal groove for the 

 reception of the beak, not extended as far as the front coxae. 

 These insects are epigeal, rough, and dull coloured, with the 

 elytra widely embracing the flanks, but not strongly deflexed 

 behind, concealing the side pieces of the trunk; the beak is 

 very short, not thickened at tip, nor emarginate at the 

 middle; the antennal grooves descend perpendicularly, and 

 form a gular constriction ; the antenna^, are unusually short, 

 imperfectly geniculate; the scape as long as the first and 

 second joints of the funiculus; the club elongate-oval, 

 pointed, distinctly annulated ; eyes transverse, pointed 

 beneath;* mandibles stout, short, front surface curved and 



* Jekel, 1. c, ISCl, 543, describes the group as being Adelognatbes 

 cyclophthalmes. Lacordaire (Gen. Col. vi. 293 sqq.) places them in Phane- 

 rognathes, and describes the eyes as acuminate below, in which he is correct. 



