Cassidnlw. 61 



glabrous surface of the body, and by the entirely different 

 coloration; both species agree in the almost entire 

 absence of the gibbosity of the elytra ; in the present 

 insect, however, it is slightly more distinct than in D. 

 speciosa. Five lower joints of antennae, together with 

 the base of the sixth, pale testaceous, stained at their 

 apices with piceous. M. puherula, Boh., and Batonota 

 distincta, mihi, the latter described below, both strongly 

 resemble D. sericea in pubescence and colour. 



Calaspidea contacta. 



Subrotundata, postice modice attenuata, convexa, gla- 

 bra, obscure nigro-aenea, subnitida, subtus nitida, an tennis 

 nigris, gracilibus ; thorace longitudine duplo latiori, 

 lateribus pone apicem fere ad basin oblique ampliatis, 

 basi rotundatis ; dorso utrinque concavo, impunctato ; 

 elytris thorace multo latioribus, humeris leviter sed 

 distincte antrorsum prominulis, apice rotundatis ; lateri- 

 bus pone humeros fere ad medium rotundato-ampliatis, 

 hinc ad apicem rotundato-angustatis, apice conjunctim 

 rotundatis ; disco convexis, a basin ultra medium perparum 

 elevatis, hinc ad apicem declivibus, elevato-reticulatis, 

 reticulo nitido, punctate, areolas sat magnas opacas in- 

 cludenti ; margine laterali late explanato, leviter deflexo, 

 confertim sed tenuiter punctate, vitta fulva plus minusve 

 erosa vel interrupta, rufo-tincta, plerumque piceo-macu- 

 lata, fere a basi ad apicem extensa, ornato. 



Long. 8§ lin. 



Hah. — Ecuador. 



This beautiful species so closely resembles Mesomphalia 

 Pascoei, that at first sight I placed it in my cabinet 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of that insect; on 

 examination however, for the purpose of description, I 

 found that it belonged to the present genus ; it possesses 

 the narrow thorax of A. alurna and Cohimhiana, the 

 slender antennae of C. discors, regalis, and their allies, 

 and the convexity of C. divalis and Colossa; it is easily 

 separated from any of these insects by one or other of 

 the above-named structural characters, and also by the 

 peculiar pattern of its elytra. 



