Conn.] 
44 
Nov. 7, 
4. The amount of departure from the primitive larval type that 
any family of beetles presents, is no indication of the position in 
the scale of classification that the adults should occupy. At least 
this is true if we accept the classification of adults recognized at 
present by our entomologists. 
5. Family characteristics are usually well marked in the larvae. 
Generic characteristics are also usually quite definite ; specific dif- 
ferences are usually very small and do not seem to be very con- 
stant. 
6. There is in most cases an evident relation between the habits 
of the larvae of a family and those of the adults. This indicates 
that the habits acquired by one stage have subsequently had their 
effect on the habits of the other stage. It seems probable that in 
beetles the larva has been the first to modify its habits and that 
the adult has subsequently acquired habits related to it. The lar- 
val stage seems thus to be more important than the adult ; at all 
events it is more thoroughly protected and is the first to be adapted 
to suit its surroundings. 
7. The larvae of beetles are much more diversified than their 
adults. 
8. Although habits and the conditions that surround the larvae 
have been very important features in the production of the pres- 
ent larval forms, some other force has been at work in producing or 
rather in retaining them. For we find a great variety of larvae at 
the present time with almost identical habits. This other force is 
undoubtedly heredity, which has frequently proved stronger than 
the modifying effect of the environment. 
9. Beetle larvae cannot be classified by the same characteristics 
used in classifying adults. The shape of the antennae has no sig- 
nificance in the classification of larvae since it is almost uniform 
throughout the order. The shape of the legs, the number of tarsi, 
the shape of the coxal cavities, are of not much more value. The 
mouth parts seem to be of a little more value, and are of far less 
value in classification than they are in the adults. 
10. The mouth parts of beetle larvae, even in the typical Cam- 
podeoid form, are not Campodeoid in type, but approximate rather 
closely to those of the adult beetles. No traceable similarity can 
be found between the mouth parts of any particular family of larvae 
and those of the adults of the same family, beyond the general sim- 
ilarity sometimes produced by like habits. It is true, however, 
