212 Mr. G. R. Waterhouse's Notes 



XVI, Notes on the British Species of Donacia. By G. R. 

 Waterhouse, Esq., F.Z.S., &c. 



* [Read 4lh July, 1859.] 



The Donacece of our country bear, many of tliem, the names by 

 which they are almost universally distinguished by the German 

 and French Entomologists, but some few of them bear other 

 names; some, again, have been separated as distinct species, which 

 shotdd not be so separated ; and, lastly, some have been mistaken 

 for continental species which we do not possess, though descrip- 

 tions, compiled from foreign works (and not, therefore, taken 

 from British specimens), have led to the erroneous idea that such 

 species exist in England ; and thus we find in such works as La- 

 cordaire's " Phytophages" a wider geographical range given to 

 certain species than they possess. D. angusiata, D. obscura and 

 D. brevicornis come under this category ; at least, I can find no 

 evidence that these species exist in England. I will now en- 

 deavour to point out the leading distinguishing characters of our 

 species, and offer such observations upon them as occur to me. 



I. Elytra more or less depressed, attenuated at the apex, and 

 truncated at the extreme point. 

 A. Posterior femora (in the males, at least) bidentate. 



Sp. 1. Larger and more depressed than the following 

 three species ; posterior femora but indistinctly 

 incrassated, the teeth remote and placed one 

 behind the other ; thorax impunctate. — D. cras- 

 sipes, Fab., Gyll., Steph., Lacord., &c. 



Found by myself in the London district on 

 the leaves on the water-lily. 

 2. Male with the posterior femora much incrassated 

 (pale at the base), the teeth placed transversely ; 

 thorax rather sparingly punctured ; interstices 

 of the striae on the disc of the elytra smooth, 

 or but little rugulose ; third joint of antennae 

 scarcely half as long again as the second. — D. 

 bidens, Oliv,, Gyll. (iii. 648), Lacord. ; D, cincta, 

 Germ., Gyll. (iv. 672), Stephens. 



Found by myself in the London district. 



