MORDELLA. 269 
Hab. Mexico, Vera Cruz (Sallé); British Honpuras, R. Hondo (Blancaneaua) ; 
GuATEMALA, Panzos (Conradt); Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt, Janson); Panama, Volcan 
de Chiriqui, Tolé (Champion).—Brazin ! 234567, 
A variable species. Two forms occur :—(1) The elytra each with two small silvery- 
or golden-pubescent spots placed obliquely some little distance below the base and a 
transverse crescent-shaped larger mark at about one-third from the apex (M. imperator, 
Cast.); (2) the elytra with only the anteapical crescentiform mark (I. clavicornis, 
Kirby, J. lunata, Sturm). Examples of both forms are before me from British 
Honduras, Nicaragua, and the State of Panama, and also from Brazil. J. clavi- 
cornis is closely allied to IZ. guadrisignata, but differs in its elytral markings and in 
having the oblique humeral callus more prominent, and continued for at least three- 
fourths of the length of the elytra, enclosing a large elongate-triangular depressed 
space. The pygidium is more compressed at the sides, more sharply pointed, and, if 
anything, longer; in the male it is more than twice the length of the hypopygium. 
The underside is in most specimens entirely black ; but in a few of the var. imperator 
the sides or base of the ventral segments have a little whitish or golden pubescence. 
The other characters are very much the same as in MW. quadrisignata. The length of 
the insect, from the front of the thorax to the tip of the elytra, varies from 64-103 
millim., the pygidium from 3-5 millim. 
2. Mordella quadrisignata. (Tab. XI. figg. 14-18.) 
Mordella quadrisignata, Chevr. Col. Mex., Cent. i. fase. 3, no. 55 (1834) *. 
An exceedingly variable species, as regards the colour—fulvous, ochreous, golden- 
yellow, or ashy—and size of the elytral and thoracic pubescent spots, those on the 
thorax being sometimes entirely absent, and those on the elytra being sometimes 
greatly enlarged, and sometimes much reduced in size, the anterior one occasionally 
entirely obsolete. 
Eight well-marked forms occur :— 
a. The elytra each with two rounded spots of moderate size (the posterior ones usually the largest) and a faint 
or small scutellar patch golden-yellow- or ochreous-pubescent ; the thorax with the base on either side of 
the scutellum and a very faint curved or angular line on either side of the disc anteriorly (often oheolere) 
ashy-pubescent. This is the form described by Chevrolat!. (Fig. 14.) . 
Hab. Mexico, Vera Cruz! (Sal/é); Guatemaza, San Juan in Vera Paz (Champion) ; 
Nicaragua, Chontales (Janson, Belt); Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion). 
Six examples. 
3. The elytral spots ashy or whitish, smaller, sometimes very small, the scutellar patch usually present; the 
thorax usually with a triangular spot on either side at the base and a “t-shaped line on either side of 
the disc anteriorly whitish-pubescent. (Fig. 15.) 
Hab, Mexico, Cerro de Plumas (Hoge); Britiso Honpuras, R. Sarstoon (Blanca- 
