Question on Generics

Question

Consider a type-parameterized class declared as follows
public class Box<T> {
}Is there any way to get the Class object for whatever type was passed into T?
For instance I would like to be able to use something like the following code:
Box<Integer> box = new Box<Integer>();
Class<?> myClass = box.getParameterizedType();...where myClass would then be the same as what is returned by a call to Integer.class.
For the record, this is part of a reworking of a genetic programming suite I've been developing. The parametrized type in question is the return type of a node of a tree, and I am verifying if it fits the signature of some application element.

Answer 1

Well the Box class doesn't exist, it's merely a simplification of the problem at hand. If you want to see the body of the actual code I have written, it's something like the following:
package darwin.applicationObjects;
import java.io.Serializable;
public abstract class Node<returnType> implements Serializable {
     private static final long serialVersionUID = -1550106950846205458L;
     protected Class<?>[] childTypes;
     protected Node<?>[] childNodes;
     protected int arity;
     protected Node<?> parent;
     protected int birthOrder;
      * Instantiate a new terminal
     public Node() {
          arity = 0;
          childTypes = new Class<?>[0];
          childNodes = new Node<?>[0];
      * Instantiate a new node with child types specified
      * @param childTypes array of types of child nodes
     public Node(Class<?>[] childTypes) {
          arity = childTypes.length;
          this.childTypes = childTypes;
          childNodes = new Node<?>[arity];
      * Instantiate a new node with child nodes specified
      * @param childNodes array of child nodes
     public Node(Node<?>[] childNodes) {
          arity = childTypes.length;
          childTypes = new Class<?>[childNodes.length];
          for(int i = 0; i < childNodes.length; i++) {
               Node<?> node = childNodes;
               node.setParent(i, this);
               childTypes[i] = node.getReturnType();
          this.childNodes = childNodes;
     * Set the parent and birth order of this node to reflect the tree
     * @param birthOrder index of childNodes array to which this node is assigned
     * @param parent     reference to the parent node
     private void setParent(int birthOrder, Node<?> parent) {
          this.parent = parent;
          this.birthOrder = birthOrder;
     public Class<?> getReturnType() {
          //MAKE THIS WORK!
          return null;
     public abstract returnType getValue(Parameters p);