RHYNCHOPHORA. 103 
times nearly as long as the body (Balaninus), but is sometimes rudi- 
mentary ot absent (Platyrrhinide and Seolytide) ; the mouth organs 
are situated at the apex of the rostrum, which is therefore not a mere 
trunk or appendage ; labrum usually indistinct, but sometimes distinct ; 
eyes, as a rule, entire; antenne sometimes straight, but usually genicu- 
late, with the scape or first joint long, inserted as a rule in fovee or 
channels at the sides of the rostrum called ‘‘ scrobes,” generally clavate 
at apex ; thorax very rarely margined at sides, with the epimera of the 
prosternum usually meeting at apex, but sometimes separated by a centro- 
sternal piece; anterior coxal cavities ‘closed behind ; elytra usually 
striate ; abdomen composed of five ventral segments, of which the first 
two are, as arule, connate and immoveable ; tarsi apparently tetramerous, 
but really 5-jointed, the first three joints being always present (the third 
more or less strongly bilobed), the fourth always rudimentary and very 
rarely visible, and the last joint or onychium being almost always 
present but occasionally absent (as in Anoplus) ; posterior cox usually 
distant, anterior not transverse ; tibial spurs fixed and not moveable, or 
wanting. 
With regard to the Classification of the Rhynchophora it must be 
admitted that it is in a very unsatisfactory state; the characters of the 
fatnilies and genera are as yet very ill-defined, and the various divisions 
are still in quite a rudimentary condition so far as a general knowledge 
of their chief points of distinction is concerned ; we are therefore at 
liberty to adopt provisionally any characters that may assist the student 
to separate the divisions, and it does not make much difference whether 
we regard them as tribal, generic or sub-generic ; as a matter of scientific 
fact, for instance, the number of joints to the funiculus of the antennz 
is, taken alone, not a sufficient basis fora genus, but by some authors it 
has been regarded as of the first importance, and we may use it, in the 
present state of our knowledge, either as generic or sub- generic, or even 
as merely specific. 
It may perhaps be of advantage, in this connection, to give the chief 
points of some of the classifications of the group that have been put 
forward by different authors ; the first writer who gave very special 
attention to the Rhynchophora was Schonherr, whose work ‘‘ Genera 
et Species Curculionidum” (Paris, 1833—1845) is one of the most 
Jaborjous and valuable monographs of the order Coleoptera that has 
ever been published; he divides the Cureulionide into two great 
divisions, the Orthoceri and the Gonatoceri ; the Orthoceri he defines as 
follows:—‘“ Antenne not broken, that is, not geniculate at the second 
joint ; scape or basal joint not strongly elongate; rostral scrobes, pro- 
perly so called, scarcely existent”; under this group are classed the - 
Bruchides, Anthribides, Attelabides, Rhinomacerides, Apionides and 
Rhamphides, besides the Brenthides and other groups not represented in 
Britain ; the Gonatoceri are thus characterized :—‘ Antenne geniculate 
(in nonullis tamen indistincte, quorum scapus etiam brevior, sed semper 
