894 rHYTOPHAGA. 



On potato- flowers nnd various species of Solanaceat ; one of our rarest specie* ; 

 some years ngo the Kev. A. Matthews obtained several specimens by sweeping in 

 Sherwood Forest ; it is recorded by Stephens as " found near London and at South - 

 end by Mr. Waterhouse ; '' in Dr. Power's collection there are two specimens, one from 

 Mr. Crotch, and the other from the Kev. Hamlet Clark. 



P. picina. Marsh, (picca, Redt.). Oblong-ovate, subclliptical, 

 nigro-piceous, usually with a more or less distinct aeneous reflection ; 

 head smooth on vertex, forehead with a depression between eyes, 

 antennae rather short and stout, ferruginous, usually darker towards 

 apex ; thorax transverse, but not strongly so, convex, rather thickly 

 and very finely punctured ; elytra considerably broader than thorax, 

 widened to middle and thence gradually narrowed to apex, with 

 inoderately strong rows of punctures which become feebler behind, 

 interstices obsoletely punctured ; legs ferruginous, with the posterior 

 femora more or less nigro-piceous or bronze-black. L. 2|-3 mm. 



Damp places ; on Ly thrum salicaria. also on Cirsium palustre ; not common, b-.it 

 widely distributed ; Norwood ; Snodland (Kent) ; West Wickham ; Birdbrook ; 

 Amberley, near Arundel ; Henley ; Norfolk ; Bungay and Ditchingham, Suffolk ; 

 Wiiken Fen and Littlington, Cambridge ; Swansea ; Robins Wood, Repton ; 

 Lincoln ; Yorkshire ; Bowdon p.nd Stretford, near Manchester ; Liverpool district ; 

 Northumberland and Durham district, rare ; Scotland, Sol way, Tweed, and Forili 

 districts ; Ireland, Armagh, rare (Johnson) ; the species appears to be much rarer in 

 the south than further north ; it is somewhat an exception to the usual rule of the 

 Halticidie, for it is often found by single specimens. 



CRYPTOSTOMATA. (Fronticornia, Thorns.) 



The members of this group are distinguished by having the front 

 strongly iuflexed, so that the mouth is confined to the under part of the 

 head ; the antennas are approximate at base and inserted high on the 

 forehead between the eyes, and are more or less thickened towards apex ; 

 the anterior coxal cavities are closed behind, and the anterior coxae are 

 transverse and not prominent ; the posterior femora do not pass beyond 

 the margin of the elytra, which often conceal almost the whole of the 

 legs; there are no tibial spurs, and the last joii.t of the tarsi is con- 

 tained within the lobes of the third joint, the claws alone projecting ; 

 two tribes only are contained in the group, the Hispina and the Cassi- 

 dina ; the former of these is not represented in Britain (although Hispa 

 citra has been erroneously stated to have occurred), and only two genera 

 (Hispa, L., and Leptispa, Baly) represented by three species have been 

 found in Europe ; the tribe, or family, as it is considered by many 

 authors, is, however, largely represented in the tropics ; about sixty 

 genera and several hundred species are enumerated in the Munich 

 catalogue, and a considerable number of species have been added since 

 its publication through the researches of Mr. Champion in Central 

 America ; the chief difference between the Hispina and the Cassiclina 

 lies in their shape, the members of the former being wedge-shaped, 



