X INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



a sweeping-net, or an umbrella inverted, over which the branches 

 of shrubs are beaten : this, as far as my experience goes, is the most 

 effective method of securing specimens. There is, however (when 

 once they are under the inspection of the collector), a manifest dif- 

 ference in the modes which they adopt to escape from danger. Some 

 species seek for safety in flight, and use their wings as nimbly and 

 aptly as a Longicorn or Cicindela ; these are generally the brightly 

 coloured species, such as those of the genera Monoplatihs and QZdio- 

 nychis, and doubtless Octogonotes ; to these nature has given no pro- 

 tection but flight. Others seek protection by adopting a very different 

 habit — they simulate death, and for some moments may be rolled 

 over and over in the net or umbrella, to all appearance a mere dead 

 bud, or atom of clay ; they correspond, in their feigned lifelessness 

 when captured, to the habits of Chlamys, Lamprosoma, and many 

 genera of Curculionidoe : such are the habits of Omototus and Homo- 

 typhus. 



In order that we may be able to examine the relationships and the 

 different affinities of the members of this group inter se, it is neces- 

 sary that we should first of all satisfy ourselves that its natural 

 limits are clearly defined, and seek also to comprehend something 

 of its position among, and connexion with, the other forms of the 

 Phytophaga. What are its affinities ? what are the forms that na- 

 turally compose it ? and where ought they (with reference to others) 

 to be placed ? It is the more necessary to inquire into this, because, 

 at the first contemplation of the forms comprising the proposed group, 

 the species are anything but apparently cognate the one to the other. 

 Such is the diversity of character, and want of similarity in external 

 appearance, that we should be disposed, prima facie, to intersperse 

 them among other groups of the Halticidce, or even, in some instances, 

 to intercalate them among the Eumolpida?. It is perhaps, however, 

 hardly necessary to enter at length into the consideration of the 

 question as to whether we should adopt the views of Fabricius, who 

 broke up and separated the Halticidce into other sections of Phyto- 

 phaga (as Oaleruca and Chrysomela), thus refusing to attach any 

 value whatever to their saltatorial power; or whether the views 

 adopted by Latreille and Illiger, and (to a great degree) by Lacor- 

 daire, are not the more sound, which, recognizing the saltatorial 



