THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [October 



THE SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF 

 THE BRFfLSH COLEOPTERA. 



BY JOHN W. ELLIS, M.B. (vic), F.E.S. 

 {Continued from page i88.) 



The sexual characters presented by the legs of the Coleoptera are 

 so numerous and so very various that they are very difficult to classify. 

 Perhaps the best order will be to consider the modifications (a J of the 

 coxae, and trochanters, (b ) of the femora and tibiae, and (c) oi the tarsi. 

 But we may first notice the much longer front legs of the males of 

 Liicaniis cervus, Erivhiiuis vorax, and the species of the longicorn 

 genus Monochammiis ; the much stouter anterior and intermediate legs 

 of the male Hyphidrus oratus ; and the longer and more slender legs 

 of the male Ptinus fur. The little genus Bvyaxis presents some curious 

 sexual modifications of the anterior trochanters ; thus the male B. 

 fossiilata has them triangularly toothed; that of jB. At^//t?rz has them 

 furnished with a long curved spine; that oi B . jtmc ovum hdiS them 

 shortly spined while the middle trochanters have each a long spine ; 

 while the same sex of B. impressa has the trochanters simple but the 

 anterior coxae are spined. The posterior trochanters of the male 

 Sphodrns are long and projecting ; those of the rare Emus hivtiis have 

 a long curved hook in the male ; the same sex of Pristonychus has the 

 hind trochanters prolonged in a sort of spike ; those of Choleva 

 angustata and cisteloides are sharp and pointed, of C. intermedia long and 

 shaped like a gouge, and those of C. agilis with a distinct curved 

 tooth. Very frequently among the Rhynchophora or " weevils " the 

 anterior and sometimes all the femora are furnished with a more 

 or less distinct tooth on the lower margin, and when present in both 

 sexes it is usually much less developed in the feniales (but some 

 Ceuthovvhynchi have the posterior femora toothed only in the iemale). 

 In some species, as in some members of the genus Cionus, the males 

 have all the femora toothed while those of the female are simple and 

 wliile the male of Gymnetron colli>ius has a tooth on all the thighs, those 

 of the front legs of the female are toothless. The femora, especially 

 the two hinder pairs, of the male Cryptorhynchus are distinctly two- 

 toothed, while those of the female have only one tooth. The males 

 of the genus Scydmrenus generally have the anterior femora clubbed 

 at the extremity while the front tibiae of the males of Scydmcuniis 

 scutellaris and S. pnsillns are triangularly dilated at the distal end. Such 

 is also the case in the males of tlie tiny Trichopteryx brevipennis and 

 T. kirbyii, and in the males of some species of Cvyptophagus. The 

 males of some species oi Monotonia (picipes, longicollis j ; oi Lathridiits 

 lardarius, ungidatiis, constictns and transversus ; of several species of the 



