514 PHYTOPHAGA. [ Gastroide 1. 
which are more or less infuseate, red ; antenne dark with red base ; 
forehead with an indistinct central furrow; thorax double as broad as 
long, slightly narrowed in front, distinetly punctured; seutellum sub- 
triangular ; elytra thickly and irregularly and rather strongly punctured 
with traces of rows of punctures; in the males the tarsi are somewhat 
broader than in the females. L. 33-5 mm. 
On Polygonum aviculare and species of Rumex ; common and generally distributed 
throughout the kingdom ; both this and the preceding species are widely distributed 
over Europe and Northern Asia as far as North America, where G. polygon? has 
been described as G. ceruleipennis, Say. 
PLAGIODERA, Redtenbacher. 
This genus contains about eighty species, which are very widely dis- 
tributed, the majority occurring in hot climates, especially in Central and 
South America; representatives are found, however, in Asia, Africa, the 
Australian region, &c.; there is only one European species, which 
occurs very locally in Britain; in size and general appearance it much 
resembles a Phedon, but differs from that genus in being flatter, with 
the antenne shorter, and the elytra not punctured in rows; the first 
ventral segment of the abdomen is also distinctly shorter, and the 
epipleure are strongly inflexed and, as it were, flattened along the under 
surface of the elytra, instead of being almost level as in Phadon. 
P. versicolora, Laich. (armoracia, F.; salicis, Panz. ; clavicornis, 
Steph.). Oval, rather depressed, upper surface blue or bluish-green, 
metallic, under-side black or greenish-black ; head very finely punctured, 
antenne short, dark with the first five or six joints reddish ; thorax 
very transverse, narrowed in front, margined, diffusely and finely punc- 
tured ; elytra much broader than thorax, irregularly and rather strongly 
punctured; legs black, tarsi dark brown or reddish. L. 3-4 mm. 
On willows ; occasionally on birches; very local, but sometimes not uncommon 
where it is found; Surbiton, Weybridge, Battersea Fields, &c.; Prittlewell, Essex ; 
Colchester ; Weston, Oxfordshire ; Powderham and Exmouth, Devon ; Swansea ; Sal- 
ford Priors; Bewdley Forest; Stourport ; it does not appear to occur further north 
than the south-midland districts. j 
This species appears to be of longer form than the exotic species. 
PHEDON, Latrcille. 
This genus contains about forty species, which are very widely 
distributed in North, Central and South America, Northern Asia, North 
Africa, &e.; eight species oceur in Europe, of which four are found in 
Britain ; the form is short oval and convex, with the thorax strongly 
narrowed in front ; the elytra are punctured in distinct rows, and the 
tibie are not produced into a tooth at apex; the larve of this and some 
of the allied genera appear to feed in society upon leaves, preserving, as 
observed by Westwood (Classification, i. p. 389), one or two most orderly 
