CANAEIAN COLEOPTERA. 



419 



Habitat in montibus excelsis Teneriffae et Palmae, prsesertim acl folia 

 Cistormn in pinetis crescentium, hinc inde viilgatissima. 



Whether this insect should be regarded as a geographical modifi- 

 cation of the IT. testacea of southern Europe, I will not undertake to 

 pronounce for certain ; but as it has already been erected into a spe- 

 cies by M, Brulle, and it does undoubtedly possess certain differential 

 characters (though perhaps not very important ones) which essen- 

 tially separate it therefrom, I do not think it desirable to treat it as a 

 mere variety. It is, on the average, a little larger than the H. tes- 

 tacea ; its elytra are less suddenly drawn in, or truncated, behind ; 

 and it is clothed with a rather coarser decumbent golden pile ; the 

 colour also of its upper surface is paler, or more testaceous (instead 

 of being rufo-ferruginous) , but nevertheless the posterior region of 

 its prothorax, as well as its scutellum and suture, are more or less 

 darkened. The tubercles, likemse, of its elytra, from which the 

 spines arise, are blacker and (if anything) somewhat larger ; and the 

 under segments of its body — at least the meso- and meta-sterna and 

 abdomen — are, together with the feet, also blackish. 



The H. occator abounds in certain districts of a rather high eleva- 

 tion in Teneriffe and Palma, occurring more particularly in the va- 

 rious Finals (which are frequently difficult of access), and attaching 

 itself to the foliage of the shrubby Cisti (the C. vagaus and monspe- 

 liensis) which characterize those altitudes. In such situations I have 

 taken it at the Agua Mansa, and above Ycod el Alto, in Teneriffe ; 

 as well as throughout the immense Pinal, of Palma, extending down 

 the western slopes of the mountain-range above S'" Cruz and Buena- 

 vista, and occupying the extensive tract of country between the Banda 

 and the edges of the Great Caldeira. Teneriffan specimens have also 

 been communicated by the Barao do Castello de Paiva. 



Fam. 57. CASSIDID^. 



Genus 247. CASSIDA. 

 Linnfeus, Si/st. Nat. i. (1735). 



645. Cassida hemisphaerica. 



Cassida hemisphserica, Hbst, Kiif. viii. 226 (1799). 



, Lucas, Col. de VAlgerie, 514 (1849). 



, Woll, Ins. Mad. 440 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 130 (1857). 



Habitat in Can aria, Teneriffa, Palma et Hierro, passim. 



The European C. hemisphcerica, which occurs sparingly at Madeira, 



is widely spread over these islands, where very probably it is universal. 



2e2 



