Mordellide | HETEROMERA. 67 
produced into a strong style at apex ; legs rather slender, posterior tarsi 
very elongate, often nearly twice as long as the tibia, which are furnished 
with long spurs; this formation, taken together with the apical style, 
gives to many species the power of leaping; in size, colour, and 
pubescence the different members of the group are very variable. 
_ The family falls naturally into the two following tribes :— 
L Anterior coxe broadly distant at base, intermediate coxee broadly 
distant ; pygidium produced into a strong Soy len eae ats - . MORDELLINA. 
me Waterior coxz almost contiguous at base, intermeliate COX# 
slightly distant ; pygidium not produced intoa style. . . . . ANASPINA. 
MORDELLINA. 
This tribe contains by far the greater majority of the species belonging 
to the family ; they are, as a rule, larger and stouter than the members of 
the second tribe, and may at once be known by the styliform process of 
the pygidium ; the general shape is more or less cuneiform, and the body 
is convex and arched, the head being inserted very low; the intermediate 
tibie have the spurs absent or small, and the posterior tibiz are short, 
dilated and triangular; the hind coxe are very large, and the tarsal 
claws are cleft to the base with the upper portion pectinate; three of the 
five European genera are represented in Britain; they may be distin- 
guished as follows:— 
I. Seutellum larger, subrectangular, broadly emarginate at 
apex ; process of abdomen shorter and more obtuse . . TomoxtA, Costa. 
Il. Seutellum smaller, transversely triangular or semi- 
circular; process of, abdomen nearly always longer 
and sharper. 
. Antenne obtusely serrate from the fifth joint; 
episterna of metasternum Se eee ar eyes 
more finely granulated . .. . Morvetta, L. 
ii. Antennze very obtusely serrate, ainesbu lites m; 
episterna of metasternum elongate-linear ; eyes more 
coarsely granulated. . . . . . . . . . . » MORDELLISTENA, Costa. 
TOMOXIA, Costa. 
This is a small genus containing about half.a-dozen species, of which 
only one occurs in Europe; the remainder have been described from 
North America and New Caledonia; they resemble Mordella, but have 
the scutellum larger and quadrangular, and the anal style shorter and 
blunter ; the eyes are large and somewhat hairy, and the antenne are 
slender and rather short, and obtusely serrate from the fifth joint ; the 
intermediate tibiz have the spurs absent or very minute; our single 
species bears a strong superficial resemblance in the shape and general 
appearance to Mordella fasciata, but may be easily known by several of 
the characters just mentioned. 
ae 
The larva and pupa of 7. biguttata (bucephala, Costa) are described and figured 
by Schiddte (xi. pp. 589, 591, t. xv. 12 and 21); the larva is cylindrical, about seven 
F 2 
