494 INSECT A. 



The third general section of the Coleoptera, that of the 

 TetramerAj consists exchisivcly of those in which all the 

 tai'si are quadriarticulated(l). 



All these Insects live on vegetable matters. The feet of 

 their larvae are usually very short, and they are even wanting 

 or are replaced by mammillai in a great number. The perfect 

 Insect is found on the flowers or leaves of plants. 



I will divide this section into seven families. The larvae of 

 the first four or five most commonly live concealed in the in- 

 terior of plants, and are generally destitute of feet, or have 

 but very small ones ; many attack the hard or ligneous por- 

 tions of their domicil. These Coleoptera are the largest of the 

 section. 



FAMILY I. 



RHYNCH0PH0RA(2). 



This family is distinguished by the entire prolongation of 

 the head, which forms a sort of snout or proboscis. 



(1) If the first joint of a Pentamerons taraus be very short, and the second ac- 

 quire in length what the other has lost, the tarsus becomes Tetramerous. Hence, 

 in this respect, some Insects liecome equivocal. 



(2) Since the publication of the first edition of this work, Messrs Germar and 

 Schoenherr have especially devoted their attention to tliis family, and created a 

 great number of new genera, amounting (in tlie work published by the latter on 

 these Insects in 1836) to one hundred and ninety-four, exclusive of subgenera. 

 To describe them is so much the more at variance with our plan, as it would com- 

 pel us to enter into a multitude of very minute details. On this subject, therefore, 

 we refer the reader to our article Rhynchophore in the Dictionnaire Classique 

 d'Histoire Naturelle, where we have given a general view of these sections, but in 

 a new, and, as we think, a more natural order. The following is a brief sketch of 

 the same. The Rhynchophora, called by Schoenherr Cucurllonites, are divided, 

 according as the antenna: are straight or geniculate, into two great sections, the 

 Redicames or Orthocera, and the Fradicornes or Gonatocera. The anatomical ob- 

 servations of M. Leon Dufour seem to strengthen this distinction. The latter are 

 furnished with salivary vessels, while in the former they are wanting. These form 

 four tribes, the Brucheles, the Jinthribides, the Mteluhides, and the Brentides. The 

 labrum and palpi are very visible in the two first; these palpi are filiform or larger 

 at the extremity; they are very small and conical in the two otlier tribes, as in all 

 the following Rhynchophora. The Fracticornes form a fifth tribe, that of the Cu- 



