COLEOPTERA. CURCULIONIDiE. 349 



Curculio of Pliny and the Romans, called by us the weevil, and by 

 the French, Calendre ; which Clairvillc, Latinising the word, has made 

 Calendra (written in his plate Calandra, which Fabricius has adopted). 

 — Kirby, Fcmn. Sor. Amer. p. 198. 



In the tabular distribution of the British genera given by Mr. 

 Stephens (Jllustr, Brit. Ent. Mand. vol. iv. p. 3.), the family Curcu- 

 lionidae, as above restricted, comprises the whole of section A., and 

 some of the genera of section B. (p. 5.), in which the antennae are 

 decidedly geniculated (Magdalis, &c.). The genera commencing 

 with Rhyncolus, and terminating with Baris, as well as Chlorophanus, 

 Panus, Rhinocyllus, Rhinodes, and Magdalis, belong to the section 

 Brachyrhynchi ; whilst those commencing with Ellescus, and termin- 

 ating with Otiorhynchus, belong to the Mecorhynchi ; which latter 

 section I have placed after the Brachyrhynchi, in order to bring 

 Calandra, &c., into conjunction with Scolytus, &c. The arrangement 

 of the British genera given in my Synopsis is therefore founded upon 

 the most recent classification of Schonherr. It must, however, be borne 

 in mind that, from the great number of exotic types of form, an idea 

 of the natural arrangement of the family cannot be obtained from a 

 British collection ; and that of several of the divisions there is no 

 indigenous species. 



As may be expected from the great extent of this family, the 

 modifications of structure amongst the exotic genera are almost end- 

 less ; the form of the body in some being quite linear and attenuated, 

 in others globose or oval ; while the surface is, in some, smooth and po- 

 lished, in others completely covered with tubercles, and in others squa- 

 mose ; the legs, again, in some, are disproportionably long, 'especially 

 the anterior pair, and in others the presternum is armed with one or 

 two long porrected spines. An interesting variation occurs in the 

 structure of the Continental genus Dryopthorus, the tarsi being 

 distinctly .5-jointed; the third joint not greatly enlarged, and not 

 bilobed, and the fourth joint as large as the second. 



There still remains to be noticed a small group of Xylophagous insects, 

 very intimately allied to such wood-boring Curculionidae as Cossonus, 

 Baris, etc., from which, however, in deference to the views of previous 

 authors, I have provisionally retained them as a distinct family, under 



