8 EUTELINvE. 



than that of the mobility and prehensih'ty of the claws, but a» 

 the points of the claws act as grappling hooks, no doubt extra 

 security is gained by two points of contact instead of one, while 

 the extreme fineness and delicacy of the Ruteline claws, which 

 would be speedily injured by use upon the hard ground or the 

 trunks of trees, is quite suited to the soft surface of green leaves. 

 \n one group of EuteliNjE — the Parastasiini — in which every- 

 hing points to a mode of life in marked conti-ast to that of the 

 rest, and which are certainly not foliage-feeders, the claws are 

 much more robust and blunt. 



It is not surprising to find the prehensile character of the claws 

 especially developed in the males of many of the species. As a 

 rule this applies only to the front claws, the larger of which is 

 very often dilated and abruptly bent inwards. Sometimes the 

 enlarged claw meets in the folded position a special projection 

 from the lower surface of the penultimate joint, and this pro- 

 jection may be deeply and regularly scored to increase its gripping 

 power, while the whole tarsus is then generally shortened and 

 thickened, obviously indicating great muscularity (fig. 6), The 

 inner surface of all the thickened joints may be regularly and 

 microscopically scored (e. g. in species of Popillia) like the face 

 of a file. In some cases the longer middle claw is modified in the 

 same sex, and the longer hind claw as well as the others may be 

 entire in one sex and bifurcated in the other. It is a remarkable 

 fact that this bifurcation indicates the male in certain genera 

 and the female in others. Thus, in some Anomalini, while the 

 females have the longer front and middle claws cleft, the males 

 have all entire, or (as in Poinllia) all but the front ones. In 

 certain Pabastasiini, on the contrary, the simpler form of claw 

 indicates the female, that sex, in Parastasia conftiens and allied 

 species, having all the claws simple, while the longer one of the 

 four posterior feet is cleft in the males. 



Elytra. — The elytra in one large section of the subfamily 

 (Anomalini) have a peculiar narrow membranous fringe, devoid of 

 pigment and quite different in texture from the remaining surface, 

 around the external margin. The pattern of impressed lines and 

 punctures upon the elytra presents considerable variety in this 

 group, and observation of its exact character is important for 

 the discrimination of the almost endless series of exceedingly 

 similnr species, often highly inconstant in coloration, which 

 largely compose such genera as Anomala and Popillia. For the 

 clearly comprehensible description of this feature it is essential 

 to adopt a consistent method of enumeration and nomenclature, 

 and the method adopted and the considerations on which it is 

 based are explained here. Widely different as the configuration 

 of the surface of the elytra appear? in different species, careful 

 comparison enables us to trace its development in all cases back to 

 a primitive condition which was probably common to the ancestors 

 of most, if not all, beetles. 



In the soft undeveloped elytra of the pupa, in which the 



