THE PHYTOPHAGA. 



849 



quadripunctata found in oak and hazel woods, and the brilliant golden-green Cryptocej)hali, common 

 on flowers of hawk weed on dry banks in the month of June. The third section are the CYCLICA, and 

 consist of those genera in which the abdominal segments are of normal proportions, and the antennae 

 are filiform. The typical genus is Chrysomela, which, with its various closely-allied sub-genera, 

 is distributed in many hundreds of species over all the temperate and tropical parts of the earth. 

 Its species, as a rule, are of polished metallic colours, some, like the C. cerealis, a British species 

 found on Snowdon, of golden or brassy-green ground colour, with rich purple stripes ; others equally 

 brilliant, but of more uniform metallic hues, such as C. menthastri, a large brassy-green kind, found 

 on aquatic plants, C. polita and C. staphylea, abundant on nettles in spring, and the bronzed and 

 punctured C, banksii, met with on sandy banks on the southern coasts of England. Lina populi, 



CRIOCERIS MERDIGERA. 



closely allied to the true Chrysomelae, is a well-known British species, found on poplars. As 

 is the rule with the Phytophaga of northern climates, a few individuals of the late summer 

 brood of these Chrysomela pass the winter in the adult stage in a dormant state in moss, be- 

 coming the parents of the spring broods in the following year. 



The sub-family Chrysomelince, to which the above-mentioned species belong, contains most of the 

 large and conspicuous insects of the section ; but it is far exceeded in the number of its genera and 

 species by the Gaferucinai, a sub-family which includes all. the Halticides, or jumping Phytophaga, 

 insects usually of very small size, and almost infinite in their numbers and diversity. The GaUrucincR 

 may be readily distinguished from the Chrysomelinoe by the antenna? being inserted near together in 

 the middle of the forehead, these organs in the Chrysomelince being situated near the inner margin of 

 the eyes, and therefore widely distant from each other. The ambidatorial Galerucince are, as a rule, 

 of larger size than the saltatorial division of the sub-family (the Halticides), and are insects of rather 

 slow movements. Many species occur in the British Islands ; some (Galeruca tanaceti, caprece, and 

 halensis) are met with abundantly on heaths and uncultivated grassy hills and slopes, crawling over the 

 low herbage ; others are found only on trees. The Halticides, as we have already stated, are at least, 

 partly leaf-miners in their early stages, and include the Turnip-fly (Phyllotreta nemorum), and many 



