A single valve member is provided for selecting communication of one of
two flow passages constituting an exhaust flow passage, and continuously
providing a flow passage area of the selected one of the two flow
passages. According to this valve member, a changeover of flow passage
between a main flow passage with an exhaust processing device disposed
therein and a bypass flow passage is performed, and each flow passage
area is regulated, to meet an output requirement, exhaust processing
requirement and muffling requirement, appropriately. For example, a
single valve member 5 is disposed on the upstream side or downstream side
of a start catalytic converter 3, whereby communication of one of a main
flow passage 1 and a bypass flow passage 2 is selected, and a flow
passage area of the selected passage is continuously provided.