of the S'lih-famUt/ Pelidnotirne. 251 



small, very rarely a little longer than wide,* or pointed at 

 apex : the base of the thorax is well and entirely margined f 

 in the great majority; moderately bisinuate, with the 

 median lobe more or less broadly rounded behind (Felidnota 

 qnadripimdata being the only exception known to me) : 

 and the mesosternal process (where present) is sometimes 

 very small, never very large. 



Having, as I hope, cleared the way to a better under- 

 standing of the position and limits of this sub-family, I 

 will now offer one or two remarks as to its composition. 



Perhaps the most remarkable and exceptional members 

 are the two new genera having a feathery (not membranous 

 as in the Anomalina') fringe to the outer borders of the 

 elytra ; nevertheless — exceptional as this character is — in 

 every other respect they are clearly true members of the 

 sub-family. Another very exceptional form is the Felid- 

 nota quadriimndata (already alluded to), which points to 

 a close relationship with the genus Rutela. 



A peculiarity in the form of the hind tibiae in the $ of 

 certain Pelidnot/& has led me to elevate them to generic 

 rank. 



The genus Felidnota consists of a rather large number 

 of species, with characters so involved as to make the 

 endeavour to bring them into anything like systematic 

 order, whilst at the same time preserving, as far as 

 possible, the grouping of those species having a common 

 facies, a diflficult one : I have nevertheless attempted it — 

 in a tabular form — and give it for what it is worth ; it 

 may, perhaps, serve for a time. 



I must here make my most emphatic and grateful 

 acknowledgments to ray good friend Mr. Gilbert J. Arrow 

 (of the Natural History department of the British Museum), 

 to whom I am indebted for great and always cheerfully 

 rendered assistance, without which it would have been 

 impossible for me to have completed this task. 



Chisxvick. 



* In some species of Plusiotis, and in some individuals of 

 Chrysina enobescens. 



t Totally immar^inate in three known siiecies of Felidnota ; and 

 partly (at the middle) immarginate in some species of Plusiotis, and 

 others. 



