320 PHY Torn .VGA. [Prasocuris. 



depressed, subparallel, of a lighter or darker cyaneous blue colour, some- 

 times dark steel-blue, almost black, with the apical ventral segment of 

 the male narrowly, and of the female more broadly, edged with reddish- 

 testaceous ; head lather strorlgly punctured, antennae short, black, with 

 the penultimate joints subtransverse, the last five forming an elongate 

 club ; thorax subquadrate, rounded in front, distinctly punctured, the 

 punctuation being closer in some specimens than in others ; elytra long, 

 broader than thorax, with fine punctured fctrise, interstices very finely 

 and closely punctured and alutaceous ; legs dark, metallic. L. 4-5 mm. 

 Male with the tibiae dilated towards apex and slightly curved ; tarsi 

 moderately dilated. 



On the brook-liine (Veronica beccabunffa),i&t the edges of ponds and streams ; gene- 

 rally distributed throughout the kingdom, and, as a rule, common. 



P. phellandrii, L. Very like the preceding in general form, but 

 somewhat larger and easily distinguished by its colour, which is black 

 bronze, with the margins of thorax and elytra broadly reddish-yellow, 

 and a broader or narrower reddish-yellow band on the disc of each elytron, 

 which usually reaches from base to apex, but is sometimes interrupted 

 or abbreviated ; the tibiae also, with the exception of the extreme apex 

 and base, are yellow ; head thickly and rather strongly punctured ; thorax 

 a little longer than broad, quadrate, diffusely and strongly punctured ; 

 elytra long, only a little broader at base than thorax, with strong punc- 

 tured striae, interstices almost smooth ; the male characters are much as 

 in the preceding species. L. 4| 6 mm. 



On the banks of ponds and slowly running streams, on Phellandrhim aquaticum ; 

 common and generally distributed throughout the greater jiart of the kingdom ; it is 

 frequently taken in the water net ; the larva is black, and lives in the hollow steins of 

 water plants. 



GALERUCINA. 



This division is a very extensive one, and falls naturally into two 

 great tribes which contain a large number of species and are largely 

 represented throughout the greater part of the world ; as far as the 

 European species are concerned, they are, for the most part, small or 

 obscurely coloured insects compared with the Chrysomelidae, but in 

 tropical climates many of the genera are very beautiful and conspicuous ; 

 both in the larval and perfect state they are entirely herbivorous ; in 

 the tropics they are very useful in keeping down redundant vegetation, 

 but in countries where most of the land is brought under cultivation 

 many of them, and these too often the smallest members of the group, 

 are unmitigated pests and cause great loss to the farmer. 



The following are the general characters of the division: Head 

 vertical, with the labrum rather large and the clypeus often bent back 

 behind, as a rule sunk in the thorax as far as the eyes, which are 

 finely granulate and not emarginate ; antennae more or less approximate, 

 inserted on the front between the eyes, or on the lower line of the eyes ; 



