THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 241 



T. tricolor with which it has been united has the thorax not very 

 coarsely but still not finely punctured, and in this respect does not quite 

 answer, though usually a little larger than viridis. 



Rhabdoptera prcetextata^d.'j, with which Dr. LeConte formerly united 

 it, and more recently Dr. Horn, with the precedence, has the thorax 

 punctured as in tricolor^ and is too small by nearly one-half. Olivier's 

 description translated is: '•'Beneath piceous ; above shini?igs fusco- 

 ceneus ; antennce. testaceous^ apex black, a little larger than C. viride Fab. 

 Antennae testaceous, last two joints fuscous ; body above shining, 

 beneath piceous ; thorax finely punctate ; elytra punctate with confluent 

 punctures. Throughout Carolina." A figure accompanies this descrip- 

 tion. 



This is as good a description of the bronze form of tricolor as 

 Olivier gives of either viridis or chrysis, and as the same exactness of 

 expression did not prevail then as now, the really not very coarsely 

 punctured thorax might have been considered fine by him. It seems 

 scarcely just to Mr. Say to supercede his name, accompanied by a fairly 

 good description, by one that, according to the describer, applies to an 

 insect nearly twice the size and which, like a hermit crab, has been 

 wandering about a long time in search of a suitable shell. In neither of 

 the two species are the elytra confluently punctured. This species is 

 distributed from Canada to Florida and westward to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. It occurs here abundantly on the Vitacece, especially the wild 

 grape. 



There is an undescribed species of Colaspis or Rhabdoptera (if the 

 genus is valid) found in North Carolina, of which I have examples, which 

 is of the proper size to suit the description of picipes, has the elytra what 

 may be termed rugosely punctured, and the thorax scarcely more coarsely 

 than tricolor or prcetextata; but it is brilliantly green above. There 

 may, however, be examples, as in nearly all similarly coloured insects, of 

 bright golden or coppery individuals, and if so, it would fit Olivier's de- 

 scription better than either of the other species. There is a difficulty that 

 must be met, or satisfactorily explained, before there can be certainty in 

 any assignment, that is; the name '■'■ picipes" and the statement that the 

 underside is ^^ piceous." Olivier, in describing the other species, names the 

 colour of the legs, which he here does not do, and the legitimate inference 



