464 CLASSIFICATION OF THE RHYNCHOPHOROUS COLEOPTERA. 
ventral segments are very long, and closely connate; 3d and 4th 
short, 5th as long as the two preceding united. The tibiæ are — 
truncate at tip, the front ones feebly unguiculate, and with the 
inner margin of the tip concave ; tarsi dilated, brushlike beneath, ' 
3d joint bilobed in our genera, 4th joint long, claws simple sa 
ate; the tarsi are less dilated in some exotic genera. 
The dorsal segments are arranged exactly as in true Cureulion 
ide ; they are all membranous except the last, which is corneous: 
and convex in Q, divided in g : the sides of the ventral segments 
are only narrowly prolonged upwards, and are imbricated ; the last _ 
spiracle is large and uncovered. The elytra have on the inner 
side the usual lateral fold, but instead of becoming obsolete near 
the tip, it diverges strongly from the margin and is continued i 
quite to the suture, fitting to the lateral edge of the last ventral 
segments, thus showing an approach to the peculiar modification ; 
afterwards seen in Scolytide. : 
Some of the most curious characters in the Rhynchophorous sê- _ 
ries occur in this fam mily. Among them I may instance Taph- j 
roderus distortus Westwood, from Natal, remarkable by a : 
enormous development of the left mandible; an d Calodromus 
Mellyi Guerin, from India, in which the 1st joint of ee hin tasi 
is as long as the whole body. A 
Series III. HETEROGASTRA. 
I have named this series from the fact, that although the abdom- 
inal segments are alike in both sexes, and the ventrals also ai 
longed upwards at the sides, fitting into a groove on the inner 1407 
of the elytra, as in the Allogastrous series, yet the best characters 
Nothing distinctive can be predicated of the series as a War 
except the similar pygidium in both sexes, and the prolong? 
upwards of the ventral segments to fit in the elytral goer 
The families may be thus distinguished : 
A. Pygidium vertical or declivous : 
geniculate, clubbed; labrum wanting: 
Last spiracle covered etc. (sub-families etc.) - 
b. Antenne straight; labrum distinct: 
Last spiracle not covered by ventral segments ; rej ai 
notched to receive sutural apex of elytra. . - 
