■243 
CHAPTER XX. 
THE RHYNCHOPHORA OR WEEVILS. 
This group, which has usually been included under 
the so-called X etvameva, is now regarded as forming a 
section apart from all the others, characterized by the 
abnormal structure of the head and thorax, of which 
latter the posterior lateral parts are nearly always 
soldered together on the central line of the under- 
surface ; they have been regarded as the most archaic 
of the Coleoptera. 
The Hhynchophora (often termed, as a group, Curcu- 
Uonidse) are usually convex and hard ; they have the 
head elongated in front into a rostrum or beak, — 
sometimes short and thick, and at others very long, 
thin, and arched, — bearing the organs of the mouth at 
its apex. Their antennae are inserted on the rostrum, 
generally short, and in far the greater number of 
species elbowed (having a long basal joint), and club- 
bed at the apex ; they vary in the number of their 
joints Ifom eight to twelve, and are inserted on the 
sides of the rostrum, in two cavities or scrobes, which 
assume the form of pits or furrows. These cavities 
often cause two side-pieces to appear on the upper side 
of the apex of the rostrum, called winglets, or ptery- 
yia, which are greatly developed in Otiorrhynchus aiid 
its allies. With one exception, the parts of the mouth 
r 2 
