186 Prof. J. C. Schjodte on the Classification of Cerambyces, 



in want of it — for instance, in those Curculionida; and Chryso- 

 melidce which live under water {Bayous, &c., Hcsmonia) : nay, in 

 the case of that remarkable genus of Prionini of which the two 

 sexes have been referred to two different genera, the female 

 {Acanthinodera Cumingii, Hope) has naked thorny soles, whilst 

 the soles of the male {Malloderes microcephalus, Dup.) are fur- 

 nished with enormous foot-pads. And the same observation 

 which holds good with regard to the systematic definition of the 

 whole division applies equally to its distribution into families. 

 Just as the term Pseudopentamera rather describes vaguely than 

 defines systematically a vast division of the animal kingdom, so 

 the family-characters of Curculiones, Cerambyces, or Chrysomelce, 

 as now understood, in reality indicate merely the different kinds of 

 plants or parts of plants chosen for the support of their young, 

 whether it be root, stem, branch, twig, bud, leaf, flower, or fruit. 

 Thus the general habitus of Cei^ambyces is evidently regulated by 

 the circumstance that the larvae are to live in the interior of 

 stems and branches; hence their greater size, their powerful 

 build, fit for walking, running, and flying, their long antennae 

 and large eyes — all peculiarities of structure which enable them 

 to find the timber, or the particular spot in the timber, which 

 has exactly the desirable degree of dryness for their offspring; 

 hence, likewise, the often strongly developed difference between 

 the sexes, rendering it easier for the male to find the female; 

 further, the incomplete development of the two lower pairs of 

 organs of the mouth in those cases where the care for the off- 

 spring becomes so absorbing as not to leave time for the adult 

 animal to feed ; in short, the Cerambyces show all those features 

 of habitus which are met with in all other insects which stand 

 in a similar relation to the forest, whatever families or orders 

 they may belong to — as, for instance, Bombyces amongst Glos- 

 sata and Sirices amongst Piezata. Nor is there any particular 

 difficulty in explaining the habitus of the manifold smaller divi- 

 sions by similar considerations. No two things could be more 

 congenial than the habitus of a Prionus and life in the twilight 

 of the forest or in the darkness of night ; nothing more natural 

 for the gay Leptura than sporting on flowers and sunny shrubs. 

 But to unravel the unknown type of which all these hitherto but 

 loosely defined forms are modifications is quite a different pro- 

 blem, for the solution of which far more penetrating studies are 

 required than entomology has hitherto been able to boast of. For 

 the present, ray modest endeavour is confined to one family only, 

 that of Cerambyces, the classification of which I have tried to 

 place on a new basis in several respects — an attempt which ap- 

 pears called for by the present state of things, inasmuch as it is 

 impossible with any degree of certainty to define the groups by 



