Classification of the Rutelidue. 365 



HypaspidiuS, gen. nov. 



Corpus latum, subdepressum, Mandibulte extus leviter sinuatoe, 

 apice subacuminatEe. Prothoraeis margo posticus rotundato- 

 lobatus. Scutellum magnum, subaequilaterale, lateribus non bi- 

 sinuatis. Processus mesosternalis longus, curvatus, nou clavatus. 

 Ungues, S pedum anteriorum interni divisi, 5 pedum omnium 

 unus divisus. 



Type: Hypaspidius [Chloroia) Beltt, Bates, Biol. Centr.- 

 Araer., Col. vol. ii. (2) p. 270. 



The remaining two insects, although at present catalogued 

 as Antt'chirwj cxliibit no common point of difference fiom 

 Chloroia except the striation of the elytra, which, however, 

 occurs sexually in some of the species, and it seems better to 

 retain them in the latter genus at the expense of superficial 

 uniformity than to form new ones without adequate structural 

 characters. The second of these insects, G. metallica, Burm., 

 I believe to be the same as G. viridana^ Har. 



Ghlorota flavicollis^ Bates, is merely a pale variety, in 

 which the dark centre of the prothorax has almost or entirely 

 disappeared, of C. cincticollis, Blanch. The specimens are 

 evidently imperfectly coloure I, the elytra also being lighter 

 than in normal individuals. The variety is not even local, 

 for a Mexican specimen in the British Museum has the thorax 

 entirely pale, and the specimens referred to G. cincticollis b^ 

 Bates show considerable differences in the quantity of dark 

 pigment present. 



Dr. Ohaus's subdivision of Antickira, based upon his 

 discovery of a stridulating apparatus, by virtue of which he 

 relegates most of the species to the revived genus Macraspis, 

 is an admirable one. He has not, however, fully described 

 the structure which so sharply separates this genus from the 

 rest of the Rutelidse. The essential part of the apparatus, 

 which Dr. Ohaus has not noticed, is a finely striated area 

 similar to that found in all other stridulating Coleoptera, but 

 in a position hitherto unknown. It consists of a ridge upon 

 the inner face of the posterior femur near the knee and 

 running parallel to the upper edge. Under a lens this ridge 

 is seen to be transversely striated, forming a file which, by a 

 movement of 'the leg against the body, is drawn across the 

 oblique ridges upon the sides of the abdomen, producing the 

 sound heard by Dr. Ohaus. These structures are invariably 

 found together, and the presence of parallel oblique bars upon 

 Ann. (t Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 7. Vol. iv. 25 



