MORDELLA. 265 
it is quadrangular, and more than twice as broad as long. In one or two species the 
thorax and pygidium are black in the male and rufous in the female; in two or three 
others, of small size, there is a trace of a faint carina on the outer edge of the hind 
tibia. All the species here referred to Mordella have the hind tibiz without oblique 
ridges on their outer face (the short subapical one excepted), the scutellum triangular, 
and the eyes finely granulated. The antenne vary in shape according to the species 
from clavate to subfiliform, and the pygidium from short and obtuse to long and 
acuminate. The eyes very nearly or quite reach the occiput in all the Central- 
American species, the head, at most, being very narrowly extended behind them. A 
few of the species with a simple penultimate joint to the four anterior tarsi have 
the intermediate tibie distinctly shorter than the tarsi of the same pair of legs (the 
reverse being the case in the genus Gilipa); and in certain of the species with a simple 
penultimate tarsal joint the antenne have some of the joints (the apical one or two, or 
joints 5—7 or 6 and 7) yellow, and the preceding or following joints black. MU. fenestrata 
is perhaps generically distinct from Mordella; but as Mordellistena includes species 
with the palpi somewhat similarly shaped in the male it is inadvisable to separate it. 
The three species here placed at the head of the genus, all of very large size, have a 
strong oblique callus extending from the shoulders downwards towards the suture, the 
disc of the elytra thus appearing to be flattened or depressed. VW. quadrisignata varies 
to a great extent in the size and shape of the pubescent spots on the elytra and also 
in the colour of the pubescence of the under surface. In this insect, as in the majority 
of the Mordelle, the markings of the thorax and elytra are formed entirely by the 
arrangement of the pubescence; but in several of the species here described the 
markings are derived from the ground-colour. The eyes are clothed with a short erect 
pubescence in many species: this pubescence, however, is easily abraded, and is only 
visible in fresh examples. 
The following table will assist in the identification of the Central-American 
species :— 
Apical joint of the maxillary palpi more or less securiform, triangular, or ovate, in 
some species stouter in the male. 
Fourth joint of the anterior and intermediate tarsi more or less dilated and 
excavate, and extended beneath the base of the apical joint. 
Elytra with a very prominent oblique callus extending from the shoulders down- 
wards towards the suture; the pygidium very long; species cuneiform, 
very large, black, with whitish-, golden-, or fulvous-pubescent spots or 
markings. 
Antenne with joints 5-11 broadly widened and forming an elongate club, 6-10 
very strongly transverse . . wei ces, Species t, 2, 
Antenne with joints 5-11 feebly dilated, equal: i in width, 6-10 fally as long 
as broad. . . ee . . Species 3. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleont. Vol. IV. ‘Pt, 2, Fuly 1891. ONO 
