144 



INTRODUCTION. 



West wood (Thes. Ent. Oxon. plate iii, figs. 1-6) gives beautiful 

 figures of the extraordinary genera Polyplocotes, Diplocotes, and 

 Ectrephes, which are now regarded by some writers as forming a 

 separate family : the latter genus, in the formation of its antennae, 

 resembles the Paussidje, but Westwood is probably right in con- 

 sidering that the genus Polyplocotes solves the question of the real 

 affinity of Ectrephes with the PtininvB. 



Family 64. BOSTRYCHIDJE. 



Form cylindrical ; head usually deflexed and covered by the front 

 of the pronotum, which is hood-shaped ; antenna? distant, inserted 

 immediately in front of the eyes, ivith a three-jointed club ; anterior 

 coocce prominent, globose or slightly conical ; anterior coxal cavities 

 open behind ; abdomen with Jive visible ventral segments, of equal 

 length ; tarsi Jive-jointed, with the first joint very small, often more or 

 less obsolete ; tibial spurs distinct. 



The constitution of this family has been much disputed ; it is 

 considered by some to include the Ltctidje, and by others the 

 Cioid.e are regarded as merely a feeble and degenerate form of 

 the BostrychibvE ; the latter view is very probably correct, as r 



although the 4-jointed tarsi of the 

 CioibvE may be urged in objec- 

 tion, yet it must be remembered 

 that the first joint of the tarsi is 

 very small and sometimes obsolete 

 in BostrychibvE, and might be 

 expected to disappear in the de- 

 generate forms at the end of the 

 family. Some writers again in- 

 clude the BostrychidvE under 

 the AnobiibvE as a subfamily, but 

 Fig. &3.—Apate mbmedia. t ] iev are best separated, although 



they bear a strong relationship to the last-mentioned family. 



The larva of Apatc capucina has been figured by E-atzeburg, 

 Perris, Westwood, and others. It has a very small head and broad 

 thoracic segments, and is very much narrowed behind ; the apical 

 portion of the abdomen curls up under the body, and the legs are 

 loriL r ; the latter character is very important as it plainly separates 

 the family from the ScolytidtE, with which several writers have 

 associated it. The latter family possesses legless larvae. In the 

 characters of the larva, and, to a certain extent of the perfect 

 insect, the Bostrychid^e are, as I have before observed (Col. Brit. 

 Islands, iv, p. 199), more closely related to Sinodenclron than to 

 the Scolytidje. On the whole, however, their place is near the 

 Anobiid.b, although their relations to other groups are very evident. 



