320 PHYTOPH AGA, [Prasocuris. 
depressed, subparallel, of a lighter or darker cyaneous blue colour, some- 
times dark stee]-blue, almost black, with the apical ventral segment of 
the male narrowly, and of the female more broadly, edged with reddish- 
testaceous ; head rather strongly punctured, antenne short, black, with 
the penultimate joints subtransverse, the last five forming an elongate 
club ; thorax subquadrate, rounded in front, distinctly punctured, the 
punctuation being closer in some specimens than in others; elytra long, 
broader than thorax, with fine punctured strie, interstices very finely 
and closely punctured and alutaceous ; legs dark, metallic. L. 4-5 mm. 
Male with the tibiz dilated towards apex and slightly curved ; tarsi 
moderately dilated. 
On the brook-lime (Veronica beccabunga),\at the edges of ponds and streams ; gene- 
rally distributed throughout the kingdom, and, asa rule, common. 
P. phellandrii, L. Very like the preceding in general form, but 
somewhat larger and easily distinguished by its colour, which is black 
bronze, with the margins of thorax and elytra broadly reddish-yellow, 
and a broader or narrower reddish-yellow band on the dise of each elytron, 
which usually reaches from base to apex, but is sometimes interrupted 
or abbreviated; the tibiz also, with the exception of the extreme apex 
and base, are yellow ; head thickly and rather strongly punctured ; thorax 
a little longer than broad, quadrate, diffusely and strongly punctured ; 
elytra long, only a little broader at base than thorax, with strong punc- 
tured striz, interstices almost smooth ; the male characters are much as 
in the preceding species. L. 43-6 min. 
On the banks of ponds and slowly running streams, on Phellandrium aquaticum ; 
common and generally distributed throughout the greater part of the kingdom; it is 
frequently taken in the water net ; the larva is black, and lives in the hollow stems of 
water plants. 
GALERUCINA. 
This division is a very extensive one, and falls naturally into two 
great tribes which contain a large number of species and are jargely 
represented throughout the greater part of the world; as far as the 
European species are concerned, they are, for the most part, small or 
obscurely coloured insects compared with the Chrysomelide, but in 
tropical climates many of the genera are very beautiful and conspicuous ; 
both in the larval and perfect state they are entirely herbivorous ; in 
the tropics they are very useful in keeping down redundant vegetation, 
but in countries where most of the land is brought under cultivation 
many of them, and these too often the smallest members of the group, 
are unmitigated pests and cause great loss to the farmer, 
The following are the general characters of the division:—Head 
vertical, with the labrum rather large and the eclypeus often bent back 
behind, as a rule sunk in the thorax as far as the eyes, which are 
finely granulate and not emarginate ; antenne more or less approximate, 
inserted on the front between the eyes, or on the lower line of the eyes ; 
