BIOLOGIA CENTRALI-AMERICANA 
ZOOLOGIA. 
Class INSECTA. Auf 0; ban 
Order COLEOPTERA. Corn of Werte 
Tribe PHYTOPHAGA (continued). 
Fam, HISPIDA. 
A large number of the Hispide contained in the present work are now described for 
the first time; but although so many of the species are new to science, all, with but 
two exceptions, belong to known generic groups ; two new genera, Huzema and Para- 
chalepus, are characterized in the following pages. The New-World genera Cladispa, 
Octocladiscus, Melanispa, Hispoleptis, Metarycera, Stethispa, Acentroptera, and Steno- 
podius* are as yet unrepresented in Central America; the last-named genus, however, 
recently established by Dr. Horn for the reception of a species from California and 
Arizona, will probably be found in Northern Mexico. 
Little is known of the habits of the exotic species of the family; but Mr. Champion, 
who during his residence in Central America paid great attention to the group, tells 
me that the smooth flattened species (Cephaloleia and its allies) are usually found in 
the rolled-up unopened leaves of Musacee (Heliconia, spp.), the inner surfaces of 
the leaves being eroded or eaten through (often for five or six thicknesses of the 
rolled-up leaves) to a considerable extent ; he took a long series of Stenispa attenuata, 
a smooth metallic insect, by sweeping undergrowth (Bambusacez), at a high elevation 
in the virgin forest; he also states that he captured, both in the forests and in the 
more open savanna country, the brightly coloured species of Arescus on the upper 
surfaces of leaves, basking in the full sunshine. Mr. Bates, who made a large collection 
of these interesting insects in the Amazon region, used to find numerous species of 
Cephaloleia hidden at the bases of bamboo-canes, lying between the leaves and the stem 
As a rule, the New-World Hispide are more brilliantly coloured than those of the 
* Stenopodius flavidus, Horn (Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 1883, p. 301, t. 9. f. 8), a remarkable species, possessing 
a similarly shaped thorax to Huxema ; but judging from the structure of its antenne, and from the slight de- 
scription given of its labium, it should belong to the second section of the family, and be placed near Uroplata. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Coleopt., Vol. VI. Pt. 2, January 1885. aa 
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TVELY (atts Sith, Aig, 
Mila 
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