RHINCHOPHORA. 103 



times nearly as long as the body (Balaninus), but is sometimes rudi- 

 mentary or absent (Platyrrhinidae and Scolytidse) ; the mouth organs 

 are situated at the apex of the rostrum, which is therefore not a mere 

 trunk or appendage ; labrum usually indistinct, but sometimes distinct ; 

 eyes, as a rule, entire ; antennae sometimes straight, but usually genicu- 

 late, with the scape or first joint long, inserted as a rule in foveae or 

 channels at the sides of the rostrum called " scrobes," generally clavate 

 at apex ; thorax very rarely margined at sides, with the epimera of the 

 prosternum usually meeting at apex, but sometimes separated by a centro- 

 sternal piece ; anterior coxal cavities closed behind ; elytra usually 

 striate ; abdomen composed of five ventral segments, of which the first 

 two are, as a rule, connate and immoveable ; tarsi apparently tetramerous, 

 but really 5-jointed, the first three joints being always present (the third 

 more or less strongly bilobed), the fourth always rudimentary and very 

 rarely visible, and the last joint or onychium being almost always 

 present but occasionally absent (as in Anoplus) ; posterior coxae usually 

 distant, anterior not transverse ; tibial spurs fixed and not moveable, or 

 wanting. 



"With regard to the Classification of the Rhynchophora it must be 

 admitted that it is in a very unsatisfactory state ; the characters of the 

 families and genera are as yet very ill- defined, and the various divisions 

 are still in quite a rudimentary condition so far as a general knowledge 

 of their chief points of distinction is concerned ; we are therefore at 

 liberty to adopt provisionally any characters that may assist the student 

 to separate the divisions, and it does not make much difference whether 

 we regard them as tribal, generic or sub-generic ; as a matter of scientific 

 fact, for instance, the number of joints to the funiculus of the antennas 

 is, taken alone, not a sufficient basis for a genus, but by some authors it 

 has been regarded as of the first importance, and we may use it, in the 

 present state of our knowledge, either as generic or sub- generic, or even 

 as merely specific. 



It may perhaps be of advantage, in this connection, to give the chief 

 points of some of the classifications of the group that have been put 

 forward by different authors ; the first writer who gave very special 

 attention to the Rhynchophora was SchSnherr, whose work " Genera 

 et Species Curculionidum " (Paris, 1833 1845) is one of the most 

 laborious and valuable monographs of the order Coleoptera that has 

 ever been published; he divides the Curculionidaa into two great 

 divisions, the Orthoceri and the Gonatoceri ; the Orthoceri he defines as 

 follows: "Antennae not broken, that is, not geniculate at the second 

 joint ; scape or basal joint not strongly elongate ; rostral scrobes, pro- 

 perly so called, scarcely existent" ; under this group are classed the 

 Bruchides, Anthribides, Attelabides, Rhinomacerides, Apionides and 

 Rhamphides, besides the Brenthides and other groups not represented in 

 Britain ; the Gonatoceri are thus characterized: " Antennae geniculatae 

 (in nonullis tanien indistincte, quorum scapus etiam brevier, sed semper 



