SOME NEW ENTOMOLOGICAL BOOKS. 227 



Rhynchophora. With regard to the composition of series 3, 

 Dr. Sharp says : — "We are obliged at present to adopt upwards 

 of eighty families ; and we are able to distinguish on positive 

 characters five series. This leaves a large number of forms still 

 unclassified, and these we have here associated with a sixth 

 series, which we have called Coleoptera Polymorpha. This series 

 corresponds with the two series called in books Clavicornia and 

 Serricornia. As it is admitted to be impossible to define these 

 two series, we think it much better to act accordingly, and to 

 establish for the present a great group that can only be charac- 

 terised by the fact that its members do not belong to any of the 

 other five series. No doubt a larger knowledge of development, 

 coupled with the advance of comparative anatomy, will ultimately 

 bring about a better state of affairs." The Strepsiptera are in- 

 cluded provisionally in Coleoptera. 



Structure, embryology, metamorphosis, &c, of insects, were 

 fully discussed in a general way in the first five chapters of the 

 previous portion of this work, but these subjects are further 

 entered upon in reference to each order independently. Thus, 

 in his remarks on the external structure of Lepidoptera, Dr. 

 Sharp states with regard to the divisions of the thorax : — " The 

 prothorax is very small, being reduced to a collar, between the 

 head and the alitrunk, of just sufficient size to bear the front 

 pair of legs. Its most remarkable feature is a pair of processes, 

 frequently existing on the upper surface, called 'patagia.' These, 

 in many cases (especially in Noctuidre), are lobes capable of con- 

 siderable movement, being attached only by a narrow base. In 

 Hepiahis, on the contrary, they are not free, but are merely in- 

 dicated by curved marks on the dorsum. The patagia are styled 

 by many writers 'tegulse.' They are of some interest in con- 

 nection with the question of wing-like appendages on the pro- 

 thorax of Pakezoic insects, and they have been considered by 

 some writers to be the equivalents of true wings. The mesothorax 

 is very large, especially its upper face, the notum, which is more 

 or less convex, and in the higher forms attains a great extension 



from before backwards In addition to the front pair of 



wings the mesothorax bears on its upper surface another pair of 

 appendages, the tegulse. In the higher forms they are of large 

 size ; they are fastened on the front of the mesothorax, and 

 extend backwards over the joint of the wing with the body, being 

 densely covered with scales, so that they are but little conspicuous. 

 These appendages are frequently erroneously called patagia ; but 

 have also been called scapulae, pterygodes, paraptera, and 

 shoulder-tufts or shoulder-lappets." 



Discussing the methods of referring to the wing neuration of 

 Lepidoptera, Dr. Sharp is of opinion "that no system satisfactory 

 from a practical as well as from a theoretical point of view has 

 yet been devised." 



