38 



INTRODUCTION. 



median line, and the prosternal sutures wanting ; there, are also 

 exceptions to the last two characters. 



The Coleoptera (genuina) were subdivided into two great com- 

 plexes : — the Isomera, having the hind tarsi with the same number 

 of joints as the others, aod the Heteromera, in which the joints of 

 the hind tarsi were less than those of the anterior pairs ; and the 

 Isomera were again divided into the Adephaga, Clayicornia, 

 Serricornia, Lamellicornia, and Phytophaga. The question of 

 the position of the Rhynchophora had been dealt with before by 

 the same authors (" The Rhynchophora of America North of 

 Mexico," Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. xv, 1876), and in this work they 

 are regarded as the lowest, and the Lamellicornia as the highest 

 in rank of all the Coleoptera. This view regarding the position of 

 the Rhynchophora has not met with acceptance from recent 

 writers, some of whom regard them as an integral portion of the 

 Phytophaga. Whether this is correct may be open to doubt (they 

 are certainly, on the whole, a highly specialized group), but Kolbe 

 appears to be certainly going too far when, in direct opposition to 

 Leconte and Horn, he speaks of them as one of the most highly 

 developed types of Coleoptera, and a type that is most widely 

 separated from the lowest forms (Zeitsch. fur Ent. 1903, p. 144). 



In 1899 Dr. Sharp, in the ' Cambridge Natural History ' 

 (vol. vi, Insecta, part ii, p. 190), published the following classifi- 

 cation of the Coleoptera : — 



Series 1. Lamellicornia. — Antennae with the terminal joints leaf-like 

 (or broader than the others, if not actually leaf-like), and 

 capable of separation and of accurate apposition. Tarsi five- 

 jointed. 



Families. Passalidae, Lucanidae, Scarabaeidae. 



Series 2. Adephaga (Caraboidea of some authors). — Antennae never 

 lamelliform, thin at the end ; all the tarsi five-jointed, with 

 the fourth joint quite distinct. Maxillae highly developed, 

 with the outer lobe slender and divided into two segments 

 so as to be palpiform. Abdomen with six (or more) ventral 

 segments visible. 



Families. Cicindelidae, Carabidae, Amphizoidae, Pelobiidae, 

 Haliplidae, and Dytiscidae. 



Series 3. Polymorpha. — Antennae frequently with either a club, i. e. the 

 distal joints broader (Clavicorn series of authors), or the joints 

 from the third onwards more or less saw-like, the serrations 

 being on the inner face (Serricorn series of authors) ; but 

 these, and all the other characters, including the number of 

 joints in the tarsi, very variable. 



Families. Paussidae, Gyrinidae, Hydrophilidae, Platypsyl- 

 lidae,Leptinida3,Silphida8,Scydmaenidae, Gnostidae (containing 

 two Brazilian ants'-nest species), Pselaphidae, StaphyJinidae, 

 Sphaeriidae, Trichopterygidae, Hydroscaphidas, Corylophidae, 

 Seaphidiidae, Synteliidae, Histeridae, Phalacridae, Nitidulidae, 

 Trogositidae, Colydiidae, Rhysodidae, Cucujidae, Crypto- 

 phagidae, Helotidae, Thorictidae, Erotylidae, Mycetophagidse, 

 Coccinellidae ; Endomychidae, Mycetaeidae, Lathridiidae, Adi- 

 meridae (containing one American genus), Dermestidae, Ityr- 



