CBYPTOCEPIIALUS. 255 



thorax and elytra more or less spotted with black or without spots, 



or elytra black with red band near middle. 



Head finely and reinotelv punctured ; a small spot at base of 



antennae black ; antennae slender and short, third and following 

 joints nearly equal, not much longer 

 than the second, outer joints slightly 

 widened, basal joints flavous, terminal 

 joints slightly darker. Thorax about 

 twice as broad as long, very minutely 

 and remotely punctured, fulvous, with 

 or without two black spots which some- 

 times assume an elongate shape and 

 extend to the base. Scutellum pale, 

 margined with black. Elytra rather 

 broad, slightly narrowed posteriorly, 

 moderately strongly punctured, the 

 puncturation much finer posteriorly 

 and nearly obsolete at apex, interstices 

 finely punctured and slightly wrinkled 

 Fig. Qfo.Cryptocephalus here and there. Body beneath fiavous, 

 vakli, var. with more or less dark tarsi. Pro- 



sternum produced anteriorly, posterior 



margin with acutely produced angles. 



One of the most variable of Cryptocephali, of which scarcely two 



specimens are the same in coloration. The following are the 



principal forms to be met with (the lighter coloured specimens are 



the females, the darker or more spotted ones the males, the latter 



have the apex of tibiae and the tarsi black) : 



Var. a. Above entirely fulvous ; antenna? and tarsi of similar 



coloration . 

 Var. b. Elytra with three black spots (2.1), one on the humeral 



callus, tbe others behind the middle, the outer one double 



as large as inner spot : thorax unspotted. 

 Var. c. The elytral posterior spots in shape of a transverse 



band, and surrounding the apex, or the latter sometimes 



entirely covered by the band. 

 Var. d. The humeral spot similarly enlarged, but not extending 



to scutellum. 

 Var. e. Elytra black, with a narrow sinuate red transverse band 



before the middle, thorax with two large spots. 

 Var. /. The red transverse band only indicated near suture and 



margins. 

 Var. <j. Elytra entirely black, with or without paler margins. 



In all these varieties the scutellum remains red and the epi- 

 pleurse at base flavous. 



Var. mephistopheles, Duviv. Fulvous ; thorax with two black 

 spots ; elytra black, the sutural and lateral margins narrowly 

 fulvous. This seems to be nothing but one of the numerous 



