408 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleojyfera of St. Helena. 



dilute testaceis, illis versus apicera et interdum femorihus posticis 



paulo obscurioribus, 

 Mas, prothoraco sensim nitidiore et minutius punctato, tarsis ante- 



rioribus art° l"" magno, valde dilatato. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 1|. 



Ql,s. — Species L. Helence affinis, sed certe distincta. DifFert cor- 

 pore majore, magis elongato, nitidiore (nee alutaceo), et paulo ob- 

 scurius colorato, punctura densiore ac profundiore ; prothorace et 

 elytris evidentius marginatis, iUo utrinque late biimpresso necnon 

 angulis anticis incrassatis subferrugiiieis. 



Two examples (a male and a female) of this Longitarsus 

 have been commmiicated to me bj Mr. Melliss, who remarks 

 that he took them (along with the L. Ihlen(p) from the foliage 

 of native plants, at an elevation of about 2700 feet. It be- 

 longs to precisely the same type as the L. Helente, and resem- 

 bles it very much also even in colour ; nevertheless it is to- 

 tally distinct from that species. Apart from its larger size 

 and relatively more elongate outline, it is a little obscurer in 

 tint than the L. Helence^ and it is also more shining (its sur- 

 face not being alutaceous), and very much more deeply and 

 closely punctured. Its prothorax and elyti-a are more broadly 

 margined ; and the former (which has the margin at its ante- 

 rior angles more thickened and slightly ferruginous) is im- 

 pressed on either side by two broad transverse grooves, which 

 make the surface extremely uneven. 



Of the L. Helena I have seen hitherto only the males, and 

 therefore I cannot tell whether the same sexual distinctions 

 (apart from the enlarged basal joint of the four anterior feet) 

 will hold good in that species as appear to do in the present 

 one ; but in the L. Mellissi'i the male prothorax is not only 

 more shining, but also less coarsely and less closely punctured 

 than is the case with the opposite sex. 



I have had much pleasure in naming this interesting addi- 

 tion to the island fauna after its captor, whose researclies at 

 St. Helena, in various departments of natural history, have 

 been so eminently successful. 



Fam. Coccinellidae. 



Genus Thea. 



Mulaant, Species des Securip. 206 (1851). 



TTiea x'ariegata. 



Coccinella variegata. Fab., Sp. Ins. i. 99 (1781). 



coynata, iWj., Cat. 457 (18;37). 



nasuita, Erich., in Wiegm. Aivhiv. ix. 266 (184.3). 



Thea variegata, Muls., loc. rit. :?00 (18.")1). 



Several examples of this pretty Coccinellid were bred by 



