236 COCCINELLLD^:, 



narrow, flat, grooved at the inner edge for the reception of the margins of the abdomen 

 (in Bodolia they are wide and much inclined). 

 Five examples. We figure one from Orizaba. 



Subfam. EPILACHNIDES. 



The Epilachnides form with the Scymnides the most generalized group of the 

 Coccinellidse ; like them, they are found with very little modification of form in every 

 part of the world, and the great majority of the species belong to the typical genus 

 Epilachna, the subgenera Chnootriba from Africa, and Lasia and Cycnegetis from Europe, 

 being very little differentiated, the two latter containing but a single species each, 

 and Chnootrila only three. 



In the Epilachnides, however, we meet with an important variation in habit, the 

 species being all phytophagous, feeding on the leaves of Solanaceee and Cucurbitacege, 

 and the mandibles are tridentate. They are described as multidentate by Mulsant, but 

 in the species I have dissected (E. mexicana, E. borealis, E. abrupta) there is one sharp 

 spine-like tooth in addition to the bifid apex usual in the Coccinellidee. 



The species of this subfamily are (as I have observed in the generalized type of 

 other families) very subject to variation, and some of them, as Epilachna borealis, are 

 very widely distributed ; and the species are very little differentiated from each other, 

 rendering their determination often very difficult, the type of variation in one species 

 being repeated in other nearly related species inhabiting the same region. 



EPILACHNA. 



Epilachna, Chevrolat, in d'Orbigny's Diet. Univ. Hist. Nat. v. p. 359 (1844). 



About two hundred and forty species of this genus have been described, but the 

 names of a good many of these must be regarded as synonyms. They are more 

 abundant in the tropics than in the temperate districts; on the other hand, some 

 species are found at elevations up to 8000 feet. 



In Crotch's " Eevision of the Coccinellidse of the United States " [Trans. Am. Ent. 

 Soc. iv. pp. 363-382 (1873)] the genus Epilachna is altogether omitted, and it would 

 appear from the remarks of Mr. J. B. Smith (Ent. News, 1893, p. 197) that one at least 

 of the species is gradually extending over the Eastern United States. Three are given 

 from North America in Henshaw's ' Catalogue ' (1885). 



A. Elytra widest a little below the shoulders. 

 l. Epilachna abrupta. (Tab. XIII. fig. 1.) 



Oblonga, subovata, nigra, nitida; elytris testaceis, dense minute punctatis, sutura margineque nigris, hac 

 interdum in maculam medianam ampliata. Long. 10-12 millim. 



