278 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
within a short time, though it has frequently occupied my 
attention for brief intervals. The time, however, has not 
been altogether lost, for I found that, with each return to the 
investigation, 1 obtained an additional, though small, insight 
into the constitution of this complex, which has been the 
subject of repeated efforts by the most laborious and 
successful students of Entomology in Europe. 
The bases of the classification of the Rhychophora, which 
have been proposed, are briefly these :— 
I. Schonherr* treated the great mass of these insects 
(excludiug only the Scolytide) as constituting a single 
family, divided as follows :— 
A. Antenne not geniculate; antennal grooves 
wanting. - - - - - OrTSOCERI. 
Bruchides, Anthribides, Camarotides, At- 
telabides, Rhinomacerides, Ithycerides, 
Apionides, Rhamphides, Brenthides, Cy- 
lades, Ulocerides, Oxyrhynchides. 
B. Antenne geniculate; grooves almost always 
distinct. -- - : - -  GONATOCERI. 
a. Rostrum short, deformed; antenne 
subterminal. - - - Brachyrhynchi. 
* Antennal grooves extending below the eyes; 
Brachycerides, Entimides, Pachyrhynchides, 
Brachyderides, Cleonides, Molytides, Byrso- 
pides (the last with the rostrum received in 
aprosternal excavation). 
*«k Antennal grooves directed towards the eye; 
Phyllobiides, Cyclomides, Otiorhynchides. 
b. Beak cylindrical, slender; antennez 
inserted far behind the tip. 
Erirhinides; Cholides, Crypto- 
rhynchides, Cionides, Rhyncho- 
phorides, Conoderides, Cossonides, 
Dryophthorides. - - - Mecorhynchi. 
In the gradual progress of the work this last legion, the 
Mecorhynchi, were divided into Synmerides, having the 
front cox contiguous, and Apostasimerides, having them 
distant. The distinctions between the tribes above mentioned 
were founded mostly on insignificant and evanescent modifi- 
cations in the form of beak and antenne; so that with the 
* «Genera et Species Curculionidum ;’ Paris, 1833—1844, 
DPE ALY Nes, . 
