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XI. Studies in Rhynchophora. IV. A preliminary note on 

 the male genitalia. By David Sharp, M.A., F.R.S. 



[Read June 5th, 1918.] 



Plate IX. 



In its Transactions for 1912 the Entomological Society of 

 London published a paper by F. Muir and myself on the 

 male genital tube of Coleoptera. That memoir was intended 

 to give an idea of the variety of structure of this part that 

 exists in the Order. It should evidently be followed by 

 a study of considerable extent of some one of the divisions 

 of Coleoptera, so as to gain a knowledge of the constancy 

 of the particular type of structure throughout that division. 



In 1911 and 1912 Professor Niisslin contributed to the 

 Zeitschr. wiss. Insektenbiol. a paper entitled " Phylogenie 

 und System der Borkenkafer," in which he considers the 

 male genital structures of the European Scolytidae. It is 

 an excellent piece of work, but it is too limited to serve 

 the purpose of instructing us as to the constancy of type 

 of these structures in a large Family of the Coleoptera. 

 The Scolytidae are a division of the Rhynchophora, and 

 Niisslin found the division to be highly polyphyletic ; a 

 view which I believe to be correct. 



Some three years ago I commenced a study of the genital 

 tiihc in Rhynchophora, but I have found it so long a task 

 that I think it desirable to publish a preliminary note on 

 the subject. 



The Rhynchophora are probably the most extensive 

 natural group of species existing in the animal kingdom. 

 In the Munich Catalogue of Coleoptera 11,591 species of 

 the group are listed. This was in 1871, and since then the 

 number of described species has more than doubled. No 

 general catalogue of the group of later date has yet appeared, 

 but fragments have been dealt with in the Schenkling 

 publication. One of these, the Apioninae (Col. Cat. 

 Berlin, 191(1). by II. Wagner, includes 1060 species, while 

 the Munich Catalogue had less than 400. The other 

 divisions of Rhynchophora show a similar increase, and yet 

 there are large numbers of iindescribed species in collections 

 and fresh ones are constantly arriving, so that we may 



trans, ent. soc. lond. 1918. — parts i, ii. (dec.) p 



