360 PHYTOPHAGA. [ Haltica. 
miniature ZZ. lythri, but in sculpture and colour it is widely different ; it 
is much narrower at the shoulders, and less parallel-sided and more 
widened behind than H. oleracea, and is further distinguished by 
its more obsolete punctuation and correspondingly more shining ap- 
pearance, the upper surface being hardly visibly alutaceous, L. 3-4 
mm. 
V. montana, a dark blue or blackish-blue form of the type. 
On Helianthemum guttatum; also apparently on Epilobium and Poterium muricatum, 
&c.; according to the records, widely distributed throughout the greater part of the 
kingdom, but I cannot be sure of the identification; the variety is not uncommon in 
the London district. 
I have taken considerable trouble over this genus, and have seen 
British specimens named by Continental authorities of all the species 
above mentioned with the exception of H. ampelophaga, which has 
usually been considered one of our most <listinct species, but which 
appears to have been confused with H. oleracea, and has probably not 
occurred in Britain ; the latter species has apparently been confounded 
with H. pusilla, and the var. montana of the latter with H. palustris ; 
the two species, however, that have caused me most difficulty are 
HI, ericeti and H. lythri, which, if the specimens named for me by 
M. Brisout and Herr Reitter have been correctly determined, are exceed- 
ingly closely allied, the relative differences in length between the second 
and third joints of the antenne not being very obvious; Weise, however 
(l.c. p. 837), compares H. ericeti with H. ampelophaga, and says that 
it can only be distinguished by its longer and more parallel-sided body, 
which has the thorax on an even level with the elytra, the narrow 
shoulders, and the scarcely marked humeral callosities ; H. tamaricis and 
H. palustris are very distinct ; the former appears to have stood in our 
collections as H. consobrina, and the latter as H. helianthemi ; H. con- 
sobrina, however, has been regarded by different authors as synonymous 
with H. ampelophaga, H. lythri, and H. tamaricis, and in other points 
of synonymy great confusion has arisen ; careful dissections of the 
genital organs of the male, and in some cases of the mouth organs, will 
have to be made before we can with certainty determine how many 
species are really found in Britain ; as far as I can judge, I should be 
inclined to reckon only five species as British, H. oleracea (shining green), 
H.-tamaricis (dull dark blue and rather large), H. lythri (shining ccerulean 
blue, size larger, punctuation of elytra more evident), H. pusilla (shining 
cerulean blue or greenish-blue, size smaller, punctuation of elytra finer, 
the v. montana being dark blue), and H. palustris (dark blue, elytra 
coarsely and shallowly punctured, size as in H. pusilla); we are 
said, however, to possess the H. longicollis of Allard, which is 
usually regarded as the male of HZ. ertceti, but Iam not sure of the 
specimens I have seen, which appear to me rather to belong to JZ. 
pusilla, 
