'] PHYTOPHAOA. 317 



North America ; they are oblong, parallel-sided insects, of a bright 

 metallic (usually blue or bronze) colour, with the antennae rather long 

 and gradually thickened towards apex, the elytra with more or less 

 regular punctured strine, and the shoulders moderately callose ; the tibiae 

 are not produced into a tooth at apex, and the tarsi have the third joint 

 broad and bifid, and the claws armed beneath with a sharp tooth ; the 

 larva of P. vifellinte somewhat resembles that of Melasoma populi ; it is 

 of a dirty yellow colour, with the head and legs and large spots, which 

 cover the greater part of the body, dark brown ; the method in which 

 these larvae feed in regular rows upon leaves is figured by Westwood 

 (Classification, i. p. 387, fig. 48, 18) ; eight species belonging to the 

 genus are found in Europe, of which three occur in Britain ; these may 

 be distinguished as follows: 



I. Punctured striae of elytra irregular, colour blue . . . P. VULQATISSIMA, L. 

 II. Punctured striae of elytra regular. 



i. Foi cli.-Mil broadly excavated ; antennae longer ; colour 



dark blue P. CAVIPBONS, Thorn*. 



ii. Forehead with a slight depression, not excavated; 



antennae shorter; colour, as a rule, bronze P. VlTELLlN.fi, L. 



P. vulgratissima, L. (betulce, L ). Oblong, sub parallel, rather 

 depressed, of a metallic blue or greenish blue colour, shining, with the 

 middle of the metasternum and the first abdominal segment brassy, often 

 coppery; head rather thickly and finely punctured, clypeus broad, 

 antennae slender; thorax broader than long, with the sides almost 

 parallel, narrowed in front, diffusely punctured on disc, more closely at 

 sides ; elytra evidently broader than thorax, with irregular punctured 

 ttrise on disc, confusedly punctured at sides ; legs moderately long, 

 dark, more or less metallic. L. 3^-5 mm. 



Male with the posterior tibiae slightly curved, and the first joint of the 

 tarsi strongly dilated, and a little broader than the third joint 



On poplars, sallows, willows, <fec. ; also under bark in winter ; common and generally 

 distributed throughout the greater part of the kingdom. 



P. cavifrons, Thorns, (laficollis, Suffr., teste Weisc). More convex 

 than the preceding, from which it may be at once known by the regular 

 rows of punctures on the elytra, and the deeply hollowed forehead ; in 

 general form and sculpture it more closely resembles P. vitellintp, from 

 which it may be separated by its deep blue colour, excavated forehead, 

 longer and stouter antennae, longer and less transverse thorax, and tin: 

 structure of the tarsi, which in the male have the first joint moderately 

 dilated, much narrower than the third joint, and in the female have 

 the first two joints small and narrow, and the third joint very broad. 

 \\ mm. 



On Popvlut niflra and P. trunvlm ; also found benrath the bark in winter; loral ; 

 Dun-nth \V<>od, Cat ilmm, Muklehiim, Dulwirh, Eslu-r^AN l>lnm ; Haatiiigs; Burn- 

 ham, Somerset ; Midland di-tricti, ^onei-ally distributed; Lincoln; Scotland, rery 

 rare, Moray d'utm-t, " Strathgla., Uuc-hanan, White. " 



