INSECTA MADERENSIA. 459 



examination would liave at once prevented the possibility of regarding it as the 

 effect of chance, even had I not captured a sufficient ninnber of specimens, pre- 

 cisely similar, to place beyond aU question any doubts as to its normal state. It 

 is evidently of the greatest rarity, — being confined to the sylvan districts, and 

 comins into existence about the middle or latter end of the summer. The only three 

 examples which have, I beheve, been as yet detected were captured by myself, on 

 the leaves of the mountain Strawberry, at the edges of the Levada of the Eibeiro 

 Frio, in August 1850. Dui-ing my repeated researches in the same locality earlier 

 in the season, I failed in discovering it ; and in all probability therefore it is an 

 autumnal species. 



Genus 152. GASTROPHYSA. 



(Chevrolat, in Bej. Cat. S'^-^e edit. 429, a.d. 1837.) Eedt. Fim Austr. 553 (1849). 



Corpus parvum, fere ut in Chrysomela, sed prothorax ad latera liaud margiuatus, prosterno ])ostice 

 minus producto ; labrum coriaceum, margine laterali membranaceo ; maxillarum lobi latiorcs ; pal- 

 porum articulus ultimus subfusiformis basi truncatus ; et liffula transversa, apice leviter emargiiaata. 



Gastrophysa, which by some entomologists is regarded as a mere section of 

 Chrysomela, differs from the normal members of that group, mainly, in having 

 its maxillary palpi not incrassated at their apex, but filiform, — the terminal joint 

 being, as in Cnjptoceiilialus, somewhat cylindrical, and narrower than the previous 

 one. In other respects it offers scarcely any peculiarities ; nevertheless its pro- 

 thorax is not so distinctly margined as in Chrysomela proper, the hinder point of 

 its prosternum is less produced, its upper lip has the sides membranous, the lobes 

 of its maxUlse are broader, its ligula is shorter and more transverse, and its entire 

 body is altogether of a smaller size. 



351. Gastrophysa Polygoni. 

 G. ovalis couvexa nitida nigro-CEeriilea et dense punctata, protliorace, antennarum basi, pedibus 



anoque rufis, antennarum tarsorumque apice nigrescentibus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 2. 



Chrysomela Polygoni, Linn. Fna Suec. 520 (1761). 



, GyU. Ins. Suec. iii. 474 (1813). 



Phaedon Polygoni, Staph. III. Brit. Unt. iv. 336 (1831). 

 Gastrophysa Polygoni, Eedt. Fna Austr. 553 (1849). 



Habitat prope urbem Funchalensem Maderse, a Dom. Heinecken, M.D., olini capta (ex Eui'opa 

 forsan introducta). 



G. oval, convex, shining, densely and deeply punctured (especially on the elytra), and of a dark sub- 

 metallic blue, — t\iQ prothorax, antenna at base, the legs, and the apex of the abdomenheing bright 

 rufous. Antennce at apex, and the terminal joint of the tarsi, nearly black. 



3 N 2 



