232 RUYNCHOPAORA. [Smicronya. 
loose way in which they are set on the surface they are exceedingly 
easily abraded and very soon get rubbed off; specimens from which 
they have been entirely removed are quite black and more or less shiny, 
and present a very different appearance to fresh or half-abraded speci- 
mens ; the species attack various parasitic plants, especially the Greater 
and Lesser Dodder (Cuseuta europea and epithymum) ; they deposit 
their eggs in the stem and the larva lives in a sort of gall, from which 
it emerges and buries itself in the earth before undergoing its transfor- 
mations. 
I. Tarsal claws uneven, the internal claw being very 
short; thorax finely punctured; elytra oval and 
shining, usually denuded of scales . . . - S. cacus, Reich. 
II. Tarsal claws equal; upper surface usually more 
or less squamose. 
i. Thorax with shallow and rather close punctures, 
duller, interspaces finely but plainly cross-reti- 
fala body behind thorax broader. . . . S. RetcHes Gyll. 
. Thorax with very shallow and comparatively 
" diffuse punctures, less dull, interspaces more 
finely and often scarcely eviden tly cross-reticu- 
late; body behind thorax narrower. . . . . S. JUNGERMANNIA, Reich. 
(cicur, Gyll.) 
S. coecus, Boh. (cuscutw, Ch. Bris.). Oblong-ovate, black, shining, 
with scanty narrow scales which are very easily rubbed off ; thorax 
clobose, narrowed in front, finely punctured; elytra a little broader at 
base than thorax, with the shoulders well marked, oval and shining, 
with fine but distinct striz and finely sculptured interstices ; legs rather 
stout, claws unequal, the inner one being very short ; size variable. L. 
1j-2 mm. 
On Cuscuta europea ; two specimens, both without locality, one in the possession 
of Mr. Champion from Mr, Scott’s collection, and one in my own collection; Bedel 
gives as localities Northern and Central Europe. 
The Greater Dodder (Cuscuta europea), according to Bentham, is 
parasitic on a variety of plants, more especially on herbaceous stems, 
in Europe and temperate parts of Asia; it is not very abundant in 
England, and has not been recorded with certainty either from Ireland 
or Scotland. The Lesser Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) is parasitic on 
Thyme, Heath, and other small shrubby plants in Europe and temperate 
Asia; it is more frequent in England than the Greater Dodder, and 
extends from the Chesil Beach to the south of Scotland, but is appar- 
eutly unknown in Ireland; a third species, the Flax Dodder (Cuscuta 
epilinum), has been introduced into Britain with flax, but is not in- 
digenous. 
S. Reichei, Gyll. (pygmeus, Curt. pars.). Oblong-ovate, black, 
rather shiny, closely covered, in fresh specimens, with whitish and 
brownish white or brownish scales, which are arranged thickly on the 
thorax and more or less in patches on the interstices of the elytra ; 
