( cxiv ) 



covered a good part of the groiind. That memoir is a veritable 

 storeliouse of facts on the siihject, and enables iis to see 

 almost at a glance the type of structure of the genital tube 

 and its accessories in almost every family of Coleoptera ; but 

 it still leaves us without sufficient evidence to judge whether 

 all the conclusions they seem inclined to draw from them 

 are right. The organs they describe are, without doubt, of 

 considerable phylogenetic importance, but whetlier they have 

 all the importance which they claim for them is another 

 question. To me, at any rate, some of tlieir conclusions seem 

 open to suspicion, especially those which lead them to hint 

 that the Coleoptera are not a monophyletic group of insects, 

 but, starting from some Neuropteroid or other pre-Coleopteran 

 forms, have reached the Coleopterous stage along different 

 lines of descent. We all admit the great importance which 

 the structure of the aedeagus has in enabling us to discriminate 

 between closely allied species in certain genera and in many 

 whole groups, and we know how different it is at times in two 

 species whicli in all other respects seem to be very closely 

 related. This applies also to the external accessory parts — 

 the parts visible in Coleoptera without dissection — a subject 

 which did not come within the scope of the memoir by Sharp 

 and Muir. An investigation that would enable us to see the 

 whole range of variation and the degree of modification of 

 the genital organs within certain genera or groups of genera 

 in the different families would help us to form an idea of their 

 phylogenetic value, and seems to nie to be a great desideratum. 

 But however neglectful the systematists in Coleoptera may have 

 been in the past, signs are }iot wanting to show that they are 

 now fully alive to the im])ortance of examining these structures, 

 even if only to help them in their ordinary eveiy-day work. 

 And to show that their importance had not been overlooked 

 in the past, I cannot do better tlian to quote an interesting 

 passage from one of H. W. Bates's papers on the Amazonian 

 Longicorns, a passage which, written for the eyes of the 

 specialist, may not have received the general attention which 

 it deserved. The passage is as follows — ■ 



" It is a remarkable circumstance, that in many families 

 of insects which have accessory sexual pai-ts easy of examina- 



