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Show 552 INSECTA. by two or three small and almost equal teeth. America produces a great number of species. In some the supet·ior surface of the body and even a portion of the antennre are densely spinous. Such is the H. atra, L.; Oli v., Col., VI, 9 s, I, 9, called by Geoffroy the Chataigne noire. It is entirely black, extremely spinous, and a line and a half in length. In the environs of .Paris, on the Grasses. The southern departments of France produce another species -the testacea, Oliv., lb., 1, 7-closely allied to the preceding one, but fulvous. It is found on the Cisti. CnALEPus, Thunb. The Chalepi, if we take the H. spinipes of Fabricius as their type, diffet· from the Hispre proper in their long, slender and arcuated legs, the two anterior of which are at·med on the inner side, in the males, with a long spine. The third joint of the antennre is also proportionally longet·. . Some other Hispre-monoceros, Oh v.; porrecta, Schrenh.; rostratus, Kirby, &c.-remarkable for a projection on their head resembling a horn, may perhaps form another subgenus. CAssinA, Lin. Fab. The Cassidre are distinguished from the. Hispre by the following characters. The body is orbicular or almost ovoid, and in some few nearly square. The thorax, more or less semicircular, or forming the segment of a circle, entirely conceals and covers the head, or en· closes it in an anterior emargination. The elytra, frequently ele· vated in the region of the scutellum, project beyond the body. The mandibles present four teeth at least, and the exterior maxillary lobe is at least as long as the inner one. The IMATIDIA-lmatidium-of Fabricius, only differs from his Cassidre in their head, which is exposed and fixed in the ernargina· tion of the thorax. In both the body is depressed, almost round, in the form of a shield or a little Tortoise, frequently elevated into a py· ramid on the middle of the back, and overlapped all round by the sides of the thorax and elytra. The under surface is flat, so that these Insects seem as if glued to the spot to which they are attached. C. equestris, Fa b.; Oliv., Col., V, 97, i, 3. Closely allied to the following species, but rather larger, and only found in aqua· tic localities on Mint. It is green above and black beneath; margin of the abdomen and the feet yellowish. C. viridis, L.; Oliv. Col., II, 29. Length one line and a half; it only differs from the equestris in the puncta of the elytra, COLEOPTERA. 553 which form regular lines near the suture· th 1 . h commonly black. ' e tug s are most The larva lives on Thistles an·l m t • ' u os commonly on the Arti-choke. Its body 1s extremely flat and th h 1 • • covere d W·l t h spm· es; l· t covers itse'l f w'th 'et wI' o e marg• m 1• s . 1 1 s 1<£Ces, Which lt keeps suspended 10 a mass on a kind of ~'0 k 't d • I' r Sl uate near the or1.f ice of the anus. The nymph is also much fl a t tene d , and has deltcate and serrated appendages along 't 'd · h . . 1 s st es; 1ts t or ax 18 broad, rounded a.ntenorly and conceals the head. In the larva of a species found in St Do · c ,, . . . mmgo- . ampulta, Ohv.-the freces are d1sposed m numet·ous d · . an art1cu 1a ted threads, which resemble a sot·t of wioo. The C. nobilis, L.; Oliv., lb., II, 24. Y~llowish grey, with a golden- blue streak near the suture, which disappea1·s with the death of the Insect(l). In the second tribe, or the CHUYSOMELINlE the antennre d . ' are remote, an mserted before the eyes, or near their inter-nal extremity. These Insects never leap. With those of the. following tribe, and some belonging to the preceding family, they compose the genus Chrysomela of Linnreus which we have restricted by the admission of others, on ac~ count of its great extent. Those species in which we find the above mentioned characters, form, as in the earlier entomological works of Fabri· cius, two genera. The first, or CRYPTOCEPHALus, Is composed of Chrysomelinre, in which the head is plunged vertica1Jy into an arched or hood-like thorax, in such a manner that the body, most commonly in the form of a short cylinder, or almost ov~id and narrowed anteriorly, when viewed from above, appears as If truncated at that extremity and destitute of a head. The antenore of some are more or less serrated or pectinated; those of others are long and filiform. The last joint of the palpi is always ovoid. {1) }'or the other species, see Oliv., lb.; Fab., Syst. Eleut.; Schamb., Synon. Insect., 11, p. 134, nnd 209. VoL. Ill.-3 U |