232 COCCINELLnm 



I have referred the Central- American examples to this species on the authority 

 of a specimen in Mr. Crotch's collection, and on others I have seen so named, 

 rather than from their agreement with Mulsant's description. The latter seems to 

 have been drawn from a female example, having the head black, and from either a 

 unique example or from quite insufficient material. Our examples, ten in number, 

 agree in having the head and thorax quite whitish-yellow. They are very variable in 

 size and colour, but are all rather pubescent, and have the elytra brown, blackish, or 

 black, with a red disk, or a faint red marking on each, and the apex always white, 

 except in those from Bugaba and the Pearl Islands. 



Judging from examples in Crotch's collection, the paler ones might be equally well 

 referred to S. tantillus or S. pallidipennis, Muls. (the specimen of the latter is the type), 

 the descriptions of which are inadequate and inconclusive. 



At present I regard these names as indicating one widely spread and variable insect ; 

 but possibly our examples from Mexico and Guatemala are distinct from those from 

 Panama. 



16. Scymnus mutatus. 



Ovatus, capite, prothorace, pedibus abdomineque pallide testaceis ; elytris nigris, macula magna discoidali 

 oblongo-ovata in singulis aurantiaca, pectore nigricante ; tenuiter pubescente, subtiliter creberrime 

 punctatus. Long. 1*5 millim. 



Hub. Panama, Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion). 

 Var. ? elytrorum apicibus pallidis. 



Hab. Mexico, Cuernavaca in Morelos (H. H. Smith). 



Var. ? minor, elytris plus minusve nigricantibus, basi saltern nigro. 



Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (H. H. Smith). 



Var. ? prothorace macula triangulari mediana marginem apicalem vix attingente. 



Hab. Mexico, Teapa in Tabasco (II H. Smith). 



Var. ? minor, nitidior, elytrorum basi, sutura margineque pone medium nigris. Long. 1 millim. 



Hab. Panama, Peiia Blanca (Champion). 



The single specimen from the Volcan de Chiriqui, which I take for the type of this 

 species, is a very distinctly marked and rather convex, finely pubescent insect, with the 

 head and thorax nearly white, the elytra dark pitchy-black, with a large, oval, and 

 rather obliquely placed orange spot on each. The underside, with the exception of 

 the breast, is luteous. The legs are testaceous. The coxal fossettes are deep, but only 

 reach over half the segment. The Mexican examples are doubtfully associated with it : 

 the one from Cuernavaca is a little smaller and has better defined pubescence ; the colour 

 and markings are very similar, and at the same time are very suggestive of those of 



