28 Mr. T. V. A\\)lla.ston o7i the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 



Fiini. 22. Cassididae. 



Genus 40. AsriDuMoKi'iiA. 



Hope, Col. Man. (1840). 



63. Aspidomorpha viiliaris. 



A. " flava, thoracc imraaculato, elytris nigro punctatia : margine 

 bifasciato. Jiabitat in ins. St. Hclenae. Mux. Dom. Banks. 

 Statura C. man/inatir. Antennae tiava?, apice nigrae. Thoracis 

 clypeus rotundatus, integer, immacnlatus. Elytra la)via, tlava, 

 punctis circitcr 1(» nigris sparsis. ^fargo uti in reliqiiis dilatatus 

 faseiis duabiis, altera ad basin, altera versus apicem, nigris. Sii- 

 tura apice nigra. Subtus nigra, margine flavescente. Pedes 

 flavi." [Ex Fabncio.'] 



Casaida mih'an's, Fab., Syst. Ent. 91 (1775). 



, Oliv.. Encvcl. Moth. v. .-^So (1791). 



, Id., Ent. vi. 94;}. 3^^ t. 2. f. 2.j (1808). 



, Fab., Ent. Syst. i. 300 (1792). 



, Id., Syst. Eleuth. i. 400 (1801). 



Aspidomorjyha miliaris?, Bohem., Mon. Cass. ii. 201 (1854). 



I know nothing of the present insect beyond the mere fact 

 of the ahove quotation from Fabricius ; but as the species is 

 stated plainly to have come from St. Helena, and to be in the 

 Banksian collection, I can see no reason for doubting its ha- 

 bitat, particularly since other Coleoptera belonging to the late 

 Sir Joseph Banks were unquestionably (as in the case of the 

 Cy (Ionia lunata) received from the same island. I therefore 

 conclude that there is some member of the Cassidiche to be 



to have discovered that the insect was a Clythra, and cited it accordingly, 

 though whether this conclusion was arrived at after a re-examination of 

 the original St.-Helena example, or merely of tliose from southern luirope, 

 it is impossible now to tell ; but in any case it is quite clear that liis hrst 

 description applied to the St. -Helena one, and not to that from Italy. 

 Having thus, however, altered his diagnosis so as to make it tally with 

 the Italian species, he appears to have lost sight of the original St.-Ilelena 

 type altogether ; for in the Syst. Eleuth. (ii. .38) he still refers to his former 

 volumes, but records southern Europe a.s the onli/ habitat for his *' Clythra 

 iii^^'ollis," omitting even a pa.ssing aUKsion to St. Helena !! After this 

 admi.s.^ion of his own, it is not surprising that luiropean natiu-ali.sts sliouhl 

 have accepted, on his authority, the name of rit/icol/is (although applied 

 at fir.<t to a St.-Helena species) for the MediteiTanean insect ; and accord- 

 ingly every sub.«equent writer, including even Eacordaire (Mon. des Phy- 

 toph. ii. 100), has so done ; and yet it seems to me to be more than 

 doubtful whether the well-kno^^^l Cli/thra (or Macroleues) ruJicoUis of 

 Bouthem Europe v< in reality identical with Fabriciiw's original *' Crypto- 

 cephatus ruJicouis" (despite his own subsequent representation) from St. 

 Helena. If it should prove ultimately that the two are diHerent, it fol- 

 lows of necessity that tlie title " ruJieoUis " (whatsoever the giints may 

 be) will have to apply to the insect from that island, ajid that the Euro- 

 pean one mu.'-t receive a new name. 



