/. L. LeConte on Rhynchophorous Coleoptera. 3 



episterna well defined. Fig, 2, do. of a Scarabaeide (Lachnoster- 

 na) : the coxse are transverse, the cavities closed, the side pieces 

 not distinct. Fig. 3, do. of Cucujus ; coxal cavities open behind, 

 side pieces not distinct. Fig. 4, do. of Telephorus : coxal cavities 

 confluent and open behind. 



In Ehynchophora the prothoracic sutures are obliterated, there 

 is no separation between the prosternum and episterna, and very 

 rarely between the latter and the pronotum : the coxal cavities, 

 frequently confluent, are always closed behind, hy the epimera, 

 which become connate on the median line, enclosing the hind 

 part of the prosternum, thus cutting it off completely from the 

 mesothoracic segment. 



Fig. 5 represents this arrangement of parts in a Brenthide, 

 in which family the extreme limit of degradation by linear ex- 

 tension is reached. Fig. 6, under surface of prothorax of a 

 Calandride (Ehynchophorus). Fig. 7, do. of Cryptorhynchus. 

 Fig. 8, do. of Balaninus. Fig. 9, do. Ophryastes. Fig. 10, do. 

 Thecesternus. Fig. 11, do. Dendroctonus. 



When the coxae are contiguous, the point of the prosternum 

 is visible behind them, but is none the less perfectly enclosed by 

 the growth of the side pieces to the median line. 



Another evidence of the inferiority of type of the Ehyncho- 

 phora, which has not been mentioned, is seen in the functions 

 performed by the beak, which in the lower groups, especially in 

 the female, becomes greatly elongated. The occurrence of cor- 

 neous exserted ovipositors in other orders of insects is not rare : 

 a few species of Coleoptera (certain Valgus, for example) have 

 the last abdominal segment prolonged, simulating such an organ. 

 But it was reserved for the Ehynchophora to exhibit a degrada- 

 tion of type, by which a function, peculiarly appropriate to the 

 posterior extremity of the body, is performed by the head : the 

 elongated beak becoming in fact the ovipositor. 



Thus the inferiority of grade, evidenced in other series of Co- 

 leoptera by the softness of the integuments, or by the perma- 

 nence of larval forms, chiefly in the abdomen and coxae, is in 

 the Ehynchophora manifested by the transfer of a function 

 from the posterior to the anterior part of the body, and the 

 linear extension of the latter, in accordance with this ' change of 

 base.' 



The principles of classification of Ehynchophora, and their 

 division into families will be discussed in a subsequent memoir. 

 It is, however, proper to observe that the peculiar construction 

 of prothorax above described as characteristic of the Ehyncho- 

 phora, is not exhibited in the Bruchidas, which family, as ob- 

 served by Lacordaire (Gen. Col. vii, 600), should be viewed as 

 closely related to, if not actually a portion of, the great family 

 Chrysomelidae. 



