128 INSECTA. 



This subgenus comprises the largest species, most of which are 

 peculiar to Guiana and Brazil. Among them is the 



His:pe bordee, Regn. Anim. Ed. I, pi. xiii, f. 5. Blood-red ; 

 antennae, thorax, the sides excepted, and elytra, black; suture 

 and external margin of the elytra, colour of the body; their 

 middle is marked, in a variety, by a transverse line also red. 

 This Insect is not rare in Brazil *. 



HisPA, Li7i., Fab. 



The Hispse, properly so called, have short mandibles terminated by 

 two or three small and almost equal teeth. America produces a great 

 number of species. In some the superior surface of the body, and 

 even a portion of the antennje are densely spinous. Such is the 



H. otra, L.; OH v., Col., VI, 95, 1, 9, called by GcoflFroy the 

 Chataigne noire. It is entirely black, extremely spinous, and a 

 line and a half in length. In the environs of Paris, on the 

 Grasses. 



The southern departments of France produce another species 

 — the testacea, Oliv., lb., 1, 7— closely allied to the preceding 

 one, but fulvous. It is found on the Cisti. 



Chalepus, Thunb. 



The Chalepi, if we take the H. spinipes, of Fabricius, as their type, 

 differ from the Hisijse proper in their long, slender, and arcuated 

 legs, the two anterior of which are armed on the inner side, in the 

 males, with a long spine. The third joint of the antennae is also 

 proportionally longer. 



Some other Hispse — monoceros, Oliv.; por recta, Schoenh.; 

 rostratus, Kirby, &c.— remarkable for a projection on their head, 

 resembling a horn, may perhaps form another subgenus. 



Cassida, Lhi. Fab. 



The Cassldse are distinguished from the Hispoe by the following 

 characters. The body is orbicular or almost ovoid, and in some few 

 nearly square. The thorax, more or less semicircular, or forming 

 the segment of a circle, entirely conceals and covers the head, or 

 encloses it in an anterior emargination. The elytra, frequently 

 elevated in the region of the scutellum, project beyond the body. 

 The mandibles present four teeth at least, and the exterior maxillary 

 lobe is at least as long as the inner one. 



The Imatidia — Imatidium — of Fabricius, only differs from his 

 Cassidse in their head, Avhich is exposed and fixed in the emargina- 

 tion of the thorax. In both the body is depressed, almost round, in 

 the form of a shield or a little Tortoise, frequently elevated into a 

 pyramid on the middle of the back, and overlapped all round by the 

 sides of the thorax and elytra. I'he under surface is flat, so that 

 these Insects seem as if glued to the spot to which they are attached. 



• See Fabricius and Olivier, Col., VI, 95, 1, 2. 



