454 CLASSIFICATION OF THE RHYNCHOPHOROUS COLEOPTERA. 



Antenna! grooves lateral, directed below the eyes, whicli are rounded, 



prothorax not lobed :..... BraciiydekiiM. 



Directed below the eyes, which are sometimes transverse, prothorax 

 more or less lobed : 



Humeri rounded Leptopsixi. 



Humeri angulated Rhigopsini. 



B. Side pieces of metathorax narrow, distinct : 



a. Elytra connate, humeri rounded : • 



Eyes rounded, prothorax not or scarcely lobed. Dvslobixi. 

 Eyes transverse, prothorax lobed. . . . Opiiryastini. 



b. Elytra free, humeri distinct, wings perfect; 



I. Mentum large, beak short, flat; 



Antennal grooves very short, not oblique (eyes usually 

 rounded and prothorax not lobed) ; outer stria of 

 elytra entire PiiyllobIini. 



Antennal grooves longer, oblique, outer stria of elytra 

 imperfect Tanymecini. 



II. Mentum large, beak rather long. . . Evotini. 



III. Mentum small, gula prominent; beak short, antennal 



grooves oblique, deep ; eyes transverse, prothorax 

 lobed in front Eudiagogixi. 



It will be seen after a short inspection of the characters above 

 mentioned for the definition of the respective tribes, that the gen- 

 eral arrangement in this famil}' parallels in a remarkable manner 

 that which I have developed in the Tenebrionidae,* and which has 

 been adopted by Dr Horn in his excellent monograph of that fam- 

 ily, as represented in our fauna. t There is, namely, a higher se- 

 ries, characterized by large mentum and absence of wings, dis- 

 tinguished in the former case (Asididse) by the ventral segments 

 entirel}' corneous, J in the latter (A) by the indistinct side pieces 

 of the metathorax. Then comes a second series, composed of two 

 principal subseries, Blapsidie in the former instance, with el3^tra 

 widely extended on the flanks, and Tenebrionidae with narrow epi- 

 pleurte, the first always apterous, the second mostly winged ; in 

 the present family we have (B-a) apterous, and (B-b) winged, 

 and in the last, as in the genuine Tenebrionidae, additional degra- 

 dational characters in the oral organs, which, in the isolated genus 

 Eudingogus, have the same general form as in the short beaked 

 species of the next famil3\ 



It is also worthy of remark that while the European species are 



* Class. Col. X. America, 

 t Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, xiv, 2.53. sqq. 



X The only instance in the Tenebrionidte of this character, occurring outside of the 

 Asidide series, is in a small group, Calcar, etc , otherwise allied to Tenebrionini. 



