2 
REVIEWS, 
especially with the Coleoptera, inasmuch as the usually concealed position 
of their membranous underwings impeded the consideration of them in 
this point of view. Preyssler, indeed, early urged the utility of the veins 
for the classification of all the orders, and of the Coleoptera in particular, 
adducing specific examples from among the Scarabcei,* * * § Neither has this 
character been overlooked by Sturm or Guerin, in their figures illustrating 
the genera of that order. More lately, Matzek,j* insisting on the same 
theme, has proposed a special nomenclature for the veins and areolets in 
the underwings of the Coleoptera; while Heer has investigated most par¬ 
ticularly the variations in the manner of their folding, in relation to the 
different families.^ The tract which we have under review, however, is 
likely to contribute, more than any* of those previous essays, to the general 
application of the principle among the Coleoptera, albeit restricted in its 
immediate scope to a single group. Burmeister, having sought in vain to 
find comprehensive characters, for the great groups of this order, in the 
antennas, mouth, feet, and abdomen, was induced to turn his attention to 
the veining of the wings. The first fruits of this study appeared in an 
essay on the natural affinities of the Paussidce,§ which family, upon this 
and other grounds, he referred to the neighbourhood of the Carctbidce. So 
novel a suggestion naturally elicited some criticism, and the general views 
he had put forth on the value of the characters derived from the wings 
received a separate share of discussion. The objection, which had been 
anticipated and briefly repelled by Preyssler, arising out of the want of 
wings in many Coleoptera, was restated by Erichson in a form more precise, 
and with a fairer appreciation of its force and tendency. “ There are,” he 
observes, 11 two circumstances which render the venation of but secondary 
moment; 1st, that the membranous wings are sometimes wanting in indi¬ 
viduals, sex, or species, in genera, or even whole sections and families of 
Coleoptera; 2nd, that the majority of minute forms, of whatever family, 
have the wings veinless. Still, the variations in the veining of the under¬ 
wings of the Coleoptera deserve more attention than they have yet 
obtained, especially in relation to the different modes in which they are 
folded up under the elytra.” || This latter consideration, as we have seen, 
has been since very fully elucidated by Heer. Burmeister, however, will 
concede to this but a subordinate place, as at most a generic*' sometimes 
* Illigers Magazin fur Insekten-kunde. Bd. 2, Braunschweig. 1802. 
f Necrophororum Monographic. Part I. Breslau. 1839. 
j Entomologische Zeitung. Bd. 4. Stettin. 1843. 
§ Guerin, Magazin de Zoologie. An. 1841. 
|| Wiegmanns Archiv fur Naturgeschichte. Bd. 2. 1842. 
