104 RUYNCHOPHORA. 
in scrobe rostrali insertus); scape usually elongate, nearly always 
(scepissime) inserted in a channel or scrobe at the sides of rostrum ”’ 
(vol. i. p. 7); the latter definition, however, is not very satisfactory, and 
its. wording is somewhat contradictory. 
In the ‘“ Skandinaviens-Coleoptera,” vol. x. p. 147 (1868), Thomson 
divides the group Rhynchophori into eight families, whieh he places 
under two “stirpes”; Stirps I. contains the Bruchide, Anthribide, 
Rhinomaceride, and Attelabide, and is characterized as having “the 
abdomen with the ventral segments immoveable, the second being about 
equal to the third, and the pygidium nearly always exposed ; antenne 
straight, 1l-jointed; posterior coxz contiguous or not widely distant ; 
tarsal claws usually bifid”; the remaining families, forming Stirps II., 
are the Apionide, Curculionide, Cossonide, and Tomicide, which are 
defined as having “the abdomen with the three last ventral segments 
moveable, and the two first connate, the second nearly always much 
longer than the third; antenne nearly always broken and clavate ; pos- 
terior femora usually far exceeding the margin of the elytra.” 
In 1876 Dr. Leconte and Dr. Horn published their well-known 
work on “The Rhynchophora of America North of Mexicv,” which had 
been preceded by smaller works on the same subject (1874-1875) ; in 
these publications they endeavour to prove that the Rhynchophora are 
the most archaic forms of the order Coleoptera, that they are isolated 
from all the other forms, and that they are “restricted to a more uni- 
form type of organization than is exhibited in the normal Coleoptera ; but 
at the same time being represented by an immense number of species 
the generic modifications are very varied” (1 c. p. vii.); taking all these 
circumstances into consideration, these authors hold that the proper 
place for the section is at the end of the order, and in this I quite agree 
with them, and have adopted for them this position ; as, however, Dr. 
Leconte observes (1. ¢. p. ix.) they were not the first to propose this 
alteration, which was first put forward by Lorenz Oken (Elements of 
Physiophilosophy, translated by Alfred Tulk, London, Ray Society, 
1847). Leconte and Horn define the Rhynchophorous Coleoptera as 
‘those in which the posterior lateral elements of the head and prothorax 
coalesce on the median line of the under surface of the body, so as to 
unite by a single suture ”; in this definition they are followed by Bedel, 
whose work “ Faune des Coléoptéres du Bassin de la Seine, Tome vi. 
Rhynchophora (1888)” will be often alluded to during the remainder 
of the present volume ; Dr. Sharp, however, has recently pointed out 
(Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1859, Part 1. pp. 42* and 47) that this defini- 
tion does not hold good, at all events as far as the prosternum is con- 
ecrned, forin the Attelabide the apices of the epimera are widely sepa- 
rated by a piece which he calls the centro-sternal piece, and in the Rhyn- 
chitidee this centro-sternal piece, although small, is in many cases present. 
* On page 42, line 7, there is an unfortunate erratum, “absent’’ being printed 
for “apparently absent.” 
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