INSECTA MADERENSIA. 4.41 



subquadratum, apice fere integrum. Ligula membranacea, apice rotundata Integra. Pedes (pr«- 

 sertim postici saltatorii) leviter elongati : femoribus posticis incrassatis : tibiis spina apicali interna 

 armatis (in anterioribus mmutissima, segre, nisi oculo fortiter armato, observanda) : tarsis articulo 

 primo clavato (in anterioribus longiusculo, in posticis elongate), secundo et tertio longitudine 

 subfequalibus. 



The insects of the present and two following genera may be known by their 

 minute size and enormous capability of leaping, — their posterior femora being 

 unmensely thickened, in order to support the strong muscles necessary for then- 

 saltatorial habits : and, though in aU points purely structural they are very nearly 

 akin, they offer nevertheless abundant characters externally which are at once 

 sufficient, when combined, to distinguish them from each other. Thus, from 

 Zongitarsus, in which the body is nearly always elongate-ovate (having a tendency 

 to be expanded and convex beyond the middle), the head triangular, and the pro- 

 thorax subcylindrical and comparatively narrow (with its hinder angles obtuse), 

 Haltica proper may be recognised by its usually more oblong, or else rounded, 

 outline, broader head, and by its wider and more transverse prothorax, — all the 

 angles of wliich (though especially the basal ones) are more or less well defined. 

 Its antennge and legs also are somewhat shorter than is there the case, and its 

 tibise are each of them furnished with a terminal spur,— quite perceptible under 

 the microscope even on the anterior four, which in that genus are entirely 

 unarmed. Its hinder tibiae moreover are free from the smaU teeth, or spinules, so 

 apparent towards the outer apex in those of Zongitarsus ; and its feet have their 

 first articulation more abbreviated and clavate. In their oral organs, none of 

 these immediate groups display, as already stated, any great discrepancies w^ier «e ; 

 nevertheless it wUl be perceived, on reference to the diagnoses, that there are a 

 few modifications in the proportions of their antennaj and palpi (and, also, in the 

 relative robustness, or consistency, of the parts of then- mouth), which ought not to 

 escape observation. From Fsylliodes both of the above genera are separated (inde- 

 pendently of mmor features, hereafter to be noticed) by their less elliptical form, 

 eleven-jointed antennae, and by the construction of their posterior tibiae, which are 

 simple at then- extremities (instead of obliquely hollowed on the outside, vdih the 

 tarsi implanted into the upper edge of the emargination,— far removed from the 

 tip, their ordinary point of insertion). 



335. Haltica subtUis, Wall. 

 H. elougato-ovata depressa subviridescenti-nigro-senea et creberrime punctulata, antennis pedibusque 



fere nigris, protborace antice angustato, elytris apice truncatis subdebiscentibus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. Ij-l^. 



Habitat insulas Maderenses non infrequens : in Maderse propria vinetis hortisque culinaribus prope 

 urbem Funcbalensem sitis bine inde occurrit, necnon in Porta Sancto locis similibus est sat 

 vulgaris, et etiam in Deserta Grandi eestate ineunte a.d. 1850 exemplar unicum inveni. 



3 L 



