150 COCCINELLID.&. 



scutellar lobe. Elytra punctured, but so finely as not easily to be seen except under 

 the J-inch objective. One specimen from Teapa and two from Senahu, the latter 

 apparently only differing in the more dilute coloration of the head and thorax. 



Fam. COCCnraHiLID^J. 



This Family is adopted as equivalent to the " Coccinellides " of Chapuis in vol. xii. 

 of the * Genera des Coleopteres,' and of Mulsant's ' Monographie des Coccinellides.' 

 They are the " Coleopteres Trimeres securipalpes " of Mulsant's first monographic work 

 (published in 1850), and briefly the " Securipalpes " of the ' Histoire Naturelle des 

 Coleopteres de France' (1846). The older authors, as Westwood, recognized the 

 family, and placed them as they are in this work, as forming the third division of a 

 larger group, the Pseudo-trimera, and as fitly terminating a lineal arrangement of the 

 Coleoptera which was mainly founded on the tarsal system. It has been the fashion 

 with some modern systematists to place this group as forming part of the Clavicorn 

 Stirps. 



Mulsant divided the family into two groups, the " Gymnosomides " and the " Tricho- 

 somides," from the more pubescent character of certain genera. Chapuis in the 

 * Genera ' points out the difficulty and even confusion attending this method, as 

 certain pubescent genera are still found in Mulsant's first section ; and he proposes a 

 division founded on a more important character — the form of the mandibles. He thus 

 makes two tribes of equal value, the " Coccinellides aphidiphages " and the " Coccinel- 

 lides phytophages," — the latter tribe being nearly the same as the " Trichosomides " 

 of Mulsant, but excluding the Scymnides, which are insectivorous. 



In this work I shall, however, simply regard the subfamilies, which are equal to 

 Mulsant's " Branches," as of co-ordinate value with the subfamilies of the preceding 

 families, without attempting to unite them in larger groups. Mr. Crotch's system as 

 it appears on pages xi-xv of his " Revision " was apparently left undeveloped, and is, 

 even with Mr. R. F. Rippon's notes on page xv, unintelligible. His subfamilies were, 

 however, adopted from Mulsant, but some are termed tribes and some groups. 



The habits of the majority of the members of this family, and their aphis-devouring 

 mode of life, both as larvae and as perfect insects, have been so often described that it 

 is not necessary to do more here than allude to the subject as one of great importance 

 to the agriculturist and fruit-grower, and one that has recently only attracted the 

 attention it merited. The " Scymnides " and their allies have long been noticed as 

 invaluable in reducing the numbers of the Phylloxera and other plant-parasites. And 

 quite lately by the introduction of certain species of " Rhizobiides " from Australia, 

 the orange-growers of the United States have been able to clear their trees of scale, 

 and have thus been enabled to combat successfully a threatened calamity. 



