388 PHYTOPHAGA, [ Plectroscelis. 
PLECTROSCELIS, Redtenbacher. 
Of the ten European species belonging to this genus, one only is found 
in Britain ; it is exceedingly common, and sometimes does considerable 
damage to certain crops, especially hops and turnips ; it is known, there- 
fore, as the “ hop-flea ’ in common with Psylliodes attenuata, and also 
as the “ brassy ” or “ tooth-legged turnip beetle ;” it may easily be dis- 
tinguished from the members of the preceding genus by its small head 
and labrum, and the elevated curved frontal keel and the regular rows of 
strong punctures on the elytra. 
P. concinna, Marsh. (dentipes, Koch). Oval, moderately convex, 
shining, upper surface bright bronze, under-side black ; head small, 
triangular, very finely punctured, often almost smooth, antenne reddish, 
darker towards apex ; thorax twice as broad as long, slightly narrowed 
in front, very thickly and rather finely, but distinctly punctured ; 
elytra broader at base than thorax, with strong and regular rows of deep 
punctures ; legs stout, ferruginous, with the posterior femora and more 
or less of the tibie and tarsi dark ; according to Weise, the females have 
the rows of punctures on elytra more regular and the punctures deeper, 
and the interstices obsoletely alutaceous ; in the male the interstices are 
finely punctured. L. 13-2} mm. 
By sweeping herbage ; common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom ; 
it extends over Europe and Siberia. 
PSYLLIODES, Latreille. (Macrocnema, Stephens.) 
This very distinet genus may easily be known by the ten-jointed 
antenn, and the fact that the posterior tarsi are inserted at some 
little distance from the apex of the tibie, which are compressed ; the 
anterior coxal cavities are closed behind; the posterior femora are 
very strongly developed; the thorax as a rule has no lateral fold or 
stria at base, but occasionally a short one is present, and the elytra 
are furnished with more or'less distinct and strong rows of punctures ; 
in the male the first joint of the anterior tarsi is, as a rule, more 
or less dilated; as at present constituted, the genus contains between 
eighty and ninety species, which are very widely distributed, repre- 
sentatives occurring in Asia, North America, Abyssinia, Sumatra, the 
Australian region, &c.; nearly fifty of those at present known are 
found in Europe, of which fourteen inhabit Britain ; one of these, 
P. attenuata, Koch, sometimes does considerable damage to the hop- 
plant, and is known as the ‘ hop-flea ;” the beetles get into the cones 
of the hops and deposit their eggs, and the larve when hatched 
burrow through the bracts of the cones, and make them lose colour 
and become disintegrated ; the chief damage, however, is done in early 
spring, when the hop-bines are just sprouting, by those beetles that 
have hybernated in the old hollow dead bines and other refuse ; it 
