360 PHYTOPIIAGA. [Halticd. 



miiiiature II, lythri, but in sculpture and colour it is widely different ; it 

 is much narrower at the shoulders, and less parallel-sided and more 

 widened behind than H. oleracea, and is further distinguished by 

 its more obsolete punctuation and correspondingly more shining ap- 

 pearance, the upper surface being hardly visibly alutaceous. L. 3-4 

 mm. 



V. monlana, a dark blue or blackish- blue form of the type. 



On lltliantliemum guttatvm; also apparently onEpilobium and Poterium mitricafum, 

 &c. ; according to the records, widely distributed throughout the greater part of the 

 kingdom, but 1 cannot be sure of the identification ; the variety is not uncommon in 

 the London district. 



I have taken considerable trouble over this genus, and have seen 

 British specimens named by Continental authorities of all the species 

 above mentioned with the exception of H. ampelophaga, which has 

 usually been considered one of our most distinct species, but which 

 appears to have been confused with H. oleracea, and has probably not 

 occurred in Britain ; the latter species has apparently been confounded 

 with H. pusilla, and the var. montana of the latter with If. palustris ; 

 the two species, however, that have caused me most difficulty are 

 H. ericeti and H. lythri, which, if the specimens named for me by 

 M. Brisout and Herr Reitter have been correctly determined, are exceed- 

 ingly closely allied, the relative differences in length between the second 

 and third joints of the antennae not being very obvious ; Weise, however 

 (I.e. p. 837), compares H. ericeti with H. ampelophaga, and says that 

 it can only be distinguished by its longer and more parallel-sided body, 

 which has the thorax on an even level with the elytra, the narrow 

 shoulders, and the scarcely marked humeral callosities; JI. tamaricis and 

 H. palustris are very distinct ; the former appears to have stood in our 

 collections as H. consobrina, and the latter as H. helianthemi ; H. con- 

 sobrina, however, has been regarded by different authors as synonymous 

 with H. ampelophaga, H. lythri, and H. tamaricis, and in other points 

 of synonymy great confusion has arisen ; careful dissections of the 

 genital organs of the male, and in some cases of the mouth organs, will 

 have to be made before we can with certainty determine how many 

 species are really found in Britain ; as far as I can judge, I should be 

 inclined to reckon only five species as British, H. oleracea (shining green), 

 H. tamaricis (dull dark blue and rather large), H. lythri (shining coerulean 

 blue, size larger, punctuation of elytra more evident), H. pusilla (shining 

 coerulean blue or greenish-blue, size smaller, punctuation of elytra finer, 

 the v. montana being dark blue), and H. palustris (dark blue, elytra 

 coarsely and shallowly punctured, size as in H. piisilla) ; we are 

 said, however, to possess the H. lontjicollis of Allard, which is 

 usually regarded as the male of H. ericeti, but I am not sure of the 

 specimens I have seen, which appear to me rather to belong to H. 

 pusilla. 



