COLEOPTERA. 551 



times arched (cintree), and sometimes partly received into 

 the cavity of the presternum. The eyes are ovoid or round. 

 The legs are contractile and short, and the tarsi flattened ; 

 the lobes of the penultimate joint completely enclose the last. 



The body being flat above, these Insects, owing to the dis- 

 position of their tarsi, are enabled to glue themselves to the 

 surface of leaves and to remain there without motion ; besides 

 this, the body is most commonly orbicular or oval, and over- 

 lapped all round by the thorax and elytra. The head is con- 

 cealed under the thorax, or received into its anterior emargi- 

 nation. Their colours are various and are prettily distributed 

 in the form of spots, points, and streaks. Such of their larvae 

 as are known to us cover themselves with their faeces. 



The Cassidariae are composed of two genera. In the first, or 



Hispa, Lin. 



The body is oblong, the head is entirely exposed and free, and the 

 thorax forms a trapezium. The mandibles have but two or three 

 teeth; the exterior maxillary lobe is shorter than the inner one; the 

 antennae are filiform and pectinated anteriorly. 



Alurnus, Fab. 



The Alurni, which Olivier does not distinguish from his Hispae, 

 appear to differ from them only in the form of their mandibles, the 

 superior extremity of which is prolonged into a stout and pointed 

 tooth, and which, besides, exhibits a second but very short one on the 

 inner side. 



The ligula is corneous. 



This subgenus comprises the largest species, most of which are 

 peculiar to Guiana and Brazil. Among them is the 



Hispe bordee, Regn. Anim. Ed. I, pi. xiii, f. 5. Blood-red; an- 

 tennae, thorax, the sides excepted, and elytra, black; suture and 

 external margin of the elytra, colour of the body; their middle 

 is marked, in a variety, by a transverse line also red. This In- 

 sect is not rare in Brazil(l). 



Hispa, Lin, Fab. 

 The Hispae, properly so called, have short mandibles terminated 



(1) See Fabricius and Olivier, Col, VI, 95, 1, 2. 



