176 PHYTOPHAGA. 
ISCHYROSON YX. 
Ischyrosonyx, Chevrolat, Dej. Cat. 8rd edit. p. 394 (1837) ; Boheman, Monogr. Cassid. 11. p. 321. 
The six representatives of this genus described by Boheman are all from Tropical 
South America—three from Colombia, and three from Brazil; an example of one of the 
Colombian species was obtained in Nicaragua by the late Mr. T. Belt. Ischyrosonyx 
_ hospes, Dohrn, from the Transvaal, has pectinated claws, and it therefore cannot belong 
to this genus, in which the claws are simple. 
1. Ischyrosonyx nigrosignata. (Tab. IX. fig. 13.) 
Ischyrosonyx nigrosignata, Boh. Monogr. Cassid. ii. p. 327+, and iv. p. 283°; Cat. Col. Ins. Brit. 
Mus. ix. p. 116°. 
Hab. Nicaraeva, Chontales (Belt).—Cotomsia1~*. 
CASSIDA. 
Cassida, Linnzeus, Syst. Nat. 12th edit. i. 2, p. 547 (1767) ’; Boheman, Monogr. Cassid. ii. p. 329 
(part.)?; Chapuis, Gen. Col. xi. p. 388°. 
Boheman? placed a heterogeneous assemblage of species from all parts of the world 
under the name Cassida, including some (from the Old World) with pectinate claws, 
some with appendiculate claws, and some (the majority) with the claws simple ; those 
with the claws pectinate have been transferred to Aspidomorpha by Chapuis*: Three 
out of the four species here recorded from within our limits have the claws angularly 
dilated on the lower side at the base, but it is inadvisable to separate them from Cassida 
at present ; they bear much the same relation to Cassida as Chirida does to Coptocycla. 
Upwards of 250 species of Cassida have been described, about twenty only of which 
are from America (not more than seven of these inhabiting the United States), where 
the genus is replaced by Coptocycla and Ctenochira. 
* HKlytra more or less convex. 
a. Claws simple. 
1. Cassida mexicana. (Tab. IX. fig. 14.) 
Oblong ovate, convex, shining ; red or yellowish-red, the expanded margins of the prothorax and elytra dilute 
yellow, the scutellum more or less infuscate ; the elytra with the basal edge, the suture very narrowly, 
and three elongate streaks—one on the third interstice about the middle, the other two on the eighth 
interstice (one beyond, the other before the middle)—dilute black ; the antennse testaceous, with the five 
apical joints black; beneath black; legs pitchy-red or piceous. Antenne short, extending to a little 
beyond the base of the prothorax, joints 1-6 smooth and shining, 7-11 densely punctured and pubescent, 
3-5 subequal, each longer than 2, 6 shorter than 5 (not longer than 2), 7-11 considerably thickened, 
- 7-10 about as broad as long, 11 twice as long as 10, subacuminate. Prothorax nearly twice.as broad as. 
long, broadly dilated at the sides and in front, almost smooth. Scutellum large, triangular, acuminate 
behind, smooth. Elytra a little wider than, and about three times as long as, the prothorax, subparallel 
nearly to the middle, deeply sinuate-emarginate at the base; the disc with rows of rather coarse sub- 
approximate punctures extending to the apex and a deep sutural stria, the interstices smooth, almost flat ; 
