I'MYToPH.MJA. [P 



PLECTROSCELIS, Rcdtenbocli. -i . 



Of the ten European species belonging to this genus, one only is found 

 in Britain ; it is exceedingly common, and sometimes does considerable 

 damage to certain crops, especially hops and turnips ; it is known, there- 

 fore, as the " hop-flea " in common with Psylliodes attenuata, and also 

 as the " brassy " or " tooth-legged turnip beetle ;" it may easily be dis- 

 tinguished from the members of the preceding genus by its small head 

 and labrum, and the elevated curved frontal keel and the regular rows of 

 strong punctures on the elytra. 



P. concinna, Marsh, (dcntipes, Koch). Oval, moderately convex, 

 shining, upper surface bright bronze, Tinder-side black ; head small, 

 triangular, very finely punctured, often almost smooth, antennae reddish, 

 darker towards apex ; thorax twice as broad as long, slightly narrowed 

 in front, very thickly and rather finely, but distinctly punctured ; 

 elytra broader at base than thorax, with strong and regular rows of deep 

 punctures ; legs stout, ferruginous, with the posterior femora and more 

 or less of the tibia? and tarsi dark ; according to Weise, the females have 

 the rows of punctures on elytra more regular and the punctures deeper, 

 find the interstices obsoletely alutaceous ; in the male the interstices are 

 linely punctured. L. l-2 mm. 



By sweeping herbage ; common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom ; 

 it extends over Europe and Siberia. 



PSYLLIODES, Latreille. (Macrocnema, Stephens.) 



This very distinct genus may easily be known by the ten-jointed 

 antennae, and the fact that the posterior tarsi are inserted at some 

 little distance from the apex of the tibiae, which are compressed ; the 

 anterior coxal cavities are closed behind ; the posterior femora are 

 very strongly developed ; the thorax as a rule has no lateral fold or 

 stria at base, but occasionally a short one is present, and the elytra 

 are furnished with more or less distinct and strong rows of punctures ; 

 in the male the first joint of the anterior tarsi is, as a rule, more 

 or less dilated ; as at present constituted, the genus contains between 

 eighty and ninety species, which are very widely distributed, repre- 

 sentatives occurring in Asia, North America, Abyssinia, Sumatra, the 

 Australian region, &c.; nearly fifty of those at present known are 

 found in Europe, of which fourteen inhabit Britain ; one of these, 

 P. attenuata, Koch, sometimes does considerable damage to the hop- 

 plant, and i-i known as the " hop-flea ;" the beetles get into the cones 

 of the hops and deposit their eggs, and the larvae when hatched 

 burrow through the bracts of the cones, and make them lose colour 

 and become disintegrated ; the chief damage, however, is done in early 

 spring, when the hop-bines are just sprouting, by those beetles that 

 have hybernatod in the old hollow dead bines and other refuse ; it 



