138 PHYTOPHAGA, 
posterior spot on each elytron reduced in size; the second has the elytra more finely 
punctured, and all the spots very small. MV. elegans is confined to the Pacific slope of 
Mexico and Guatemala, extending southwards to Nicaragua. The allied I. tristigma, 
Boh., varies in a similar way. J. chevrolati is included in Henshaw’s ‘List of the 
Coleoptera of America north of Mexico,’ p. 14, probably in mistake, as it does not 
appear to extend north of the Mexican State of Vera Cruz. A remarkable peculiarity 
about these species is, that the red markings of the elytra are always accompanied by 
a very much coarser system of punctuation, such not being the case in MV. illustris, 
M. lebasi, &c. Boheman® mentions a variety with the posterior spot on each elytron 
obsolete ; we have not received a specimen of it. We figure a pair of M/. punicea; also 
the type (3) of M. chevrolati, and the type (2?) of M. elegans, from the Stockholm 
Museum. 
2. Mesomphalia illustris. (Tab. V. fig. 22, 2.) 
Cassida illustris, Chevr. Col. Mex., Cent. i. fase. 3, no. 81’. 
Mesomphalha illustris, Boh. Monogr. Cassid. 1. p. 820’, and iv. p. 158°; Cat. Col. Ins. Brit. Mus. 
ix. p. 57%. 
Hab. Mexico? +, Tuspan (Chevrolat}?), Cordova (Hége, Sallé), Toxpam, Chiapas 
(Sallé), Atoyac in Vera Cruz, Teapa in Tabasco (H. H. Smith); British Honpvuras 
_(Blancaneaux); GuatEmata‘, Coban, Purula, Sabo, and San Juan in Vera Paz, Zapote 
(Champion), Tactic and Tucuru (Conradt); Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt, Janson). 
A not uncommon species in Central America. I have not seen a specimen of the var. a 
described by Boheman :—*“ maculis elytrorum duabus interioribus confluentibus.” 
8. Mesomphalia tristigma. (Tab. V. figg. 27, ¢; 28, 2, var.) 
Mesomphalia tristigma, Boh. Monogr. Cassid. i. p. 286", and iv. p. 1847; Cat. Col. Ins. Brit. Mus. 
ix. p. 49°. 
Hab. Mexico? °, Orizaba!, San Andres Tuxtla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca (Sallé), Cordova 
(Sallé, Hoge), Misantla (F. D. G.), Atoyac in Vera Cruz (H. H. Smith), Teapa in Tabasco 
(Hoge, H. H. Smith), Tapachula in Chiapas (Hége); Britisn Howpuras, R. Hondo, 
R. Sarstoon (Blancaneaux); Guatemata, Coatepeque, Las Mercedes, San Isidro (Cham- 
pion); Honpuras? (Dyson *®) ; Nicaragua, Chontales (Belt, Janson). 
_A common insect in the Mexican States of Vera Cruz and Tabasco. In Guatemala 
it has only been found on the Pacific slope. As in UV. punicea, the spots on the elytra 
vary greatly in size, frequently becoming coalescent. In one specimen from Tabasco 
they are exceedingly small, there being two on one elytron and three on the other. 
M. tristigma may be easily known in all its varieties from MU. punicea by its less gibbous 
elytra, more angular humeri, and more shining upper surface; the males are also more 
rounded, and the females more parallel, in shape. The Nicaraguan specimens have the 
