49 



Lkptopsini. 



So small a propoftion of the Australian Curculionida; have 

 been described, that it is a very difficult, and perhaps not alto- 

 gether a very desirable, thing to deal with small collections, such 

 as that of the Elder Expedition, of isolated new species of that 

 family. The difficulty is increased by the considerable amount 

 of unsatisfactory work that has been already done by Mr. Pascoe, 

 whose genera are most perplexing, being generally characterised 

 either in a few words, mentioning a distinction from some other 

 genus, or with an amount of detail tliat runs to the opposite 

 extreme. Thus in the case of most of Mr. Pascoe's Lcptopsid 

 genera the comparative length and width of every joint in the 

 antennic is made a generic character, with the i-esult that it is 

 verv seldom one can say of any species (unless it be the typical 

 one of the genus) that it thoroughly agrees with the characters 

 of any genus named by Mr. Pascoe. Until a great deal more 

 work has been done with species, it appears to me that minute 

 detail in generic characters is rather to be avoided, and that so 

 long as their structural chai'acters are sufficiently detailed in the 

 specific descriptions, species are for the present best dealt with 

 by being grouped in genera whose assigned chavacters are few,, 

 and unmistakeably salient. 



Among the characters that have been most relied on as 

 generic in the Australian Leptopsini are those founded upon 

 the structure of the claws, which assume four different forms 

 in the named genera- -(a) two equal free claws to each tarsus,. 

 (b) two equal soldei;ed claws, (c) two unequal claws, fdj a 

 single claw to each tarsus. I may remark that my collec- 

 tion contains species having claws of still another type, viz., 

 two claws on the front tarsi, and only one on each of tlie hinder 

 four, and further that these different structures seem to pass so 

 insensibly fi'om one to the other in some intermediate species,, 

 that I cannot resist some doubt as to their value, or at any rate 

 as to whether they will be very easily made use of when a large 

 number of species have been described. All the four claw- 

 structures enumerated above are represented in the Leptopsini 

 of the Elder Expedition. 



Other characters that have been relied upon as generic in the 

 Leptop)siiii of Australia are found in the corbels of the hind- 

 tibiie, the length of the antennal scape, the form of the eye, and 

 the presence or absence of a scutellum, and apart from these 

 characters one or two genera have been formed on exceptional 

 peculiarities in other parts of the body. 



All these latter characters seem to be of real value, and to 

 deserve to be regarded as truly generic, and I am of opinion that 

 for the present it is better to rely upon them chiefly for the 



