Materials, Their Taxonomy and Natural History 33 



utriusqiiG vittis quinque interstitia alterna occupantibus, tertia et interdum 

 secunda basin attingentibus, intermediis tribus prope apicem abbreviatis, sub- 

 suturali et marginal! apice conjunctis, nigro-senesis. 

 " J* Segmento ventrali ultimo apice truncate." 



Description of the Living Animals. 



Imago (plate 1, fig. 1; plate 2, fig. 8). — Above: Hypodermal color greenish 

 pearly- white in the fully developed imago, Avith epicranium and pronotum often 

 tinged with pale lemon-yellow; with age color becomes dimmed and browned. 

 Head with sides, mouthparts, and ventral side black; eyes black. Antennae, 

 basal joint black, second to sixth brown or light yellow brown, with fifth and 

 sixth often with brown color deep or black; seventh to eleventh joints black 

 thickened, longer than broad, terminal joint conical and elongated. Epicranium 

 with anterior lateral epicranial spots united mediad to form heart-shaped spot 

 in center of epicranium, which frequently is prolonged caudad to meet fused 

 posterior lateral epicranial spots in median line, which are always fused mediad. 

 Posterior border and lateral portions behind eyes irregularly punctate with 

 well-marked pits. Pronotum: Constant central V-shaped spot composed of 

 ^'-{-a' + am + pm + a+'b; d and c always free; often reduced; tZ'-}-e'-f/' and 

 (i + e + / commonly fused, rarely united to central V-shaped spot. Posterior 

 border and lateral portion rather thickly and coarsely punctate; anterior 

 and central portion freely punctate. Elytra with 5 longitudinal black stripes 

 with greenish metallic luster, edged with irregular double row of large puncta- 

 tions. Stripes on anal edge unite to form median black stripe where elytra 

 are closed. Epipleurae inflexed, lilack, punctate. Below: Legs, mouthparts, 

 thoracic and abdominal surfaces dense shiny black, except that edge of pro- 

 notum is of same color as dorsal surface and frequently shows ventral pleural 

 spot, variable. 



Size: Not variable; male 7 to 11 mm. long, 5 to 6 mm. broad; female 8 to 

 14 mm. long, 5 to 7 mm. broad. 



Sexes: Female, ventral sclerite of the terminal abdominal segment rounded 

 smooth; male with same sclerite truncate and median groove well defined and 

 reaching well towards middle of plate, varialile. In general the male is smaller 

 than the female. 



Food: Preserved specimens of the food-plants and live material grown from 

 the seeds were submitted to Dr. Greenman, of the Field Columbian Museum, for 

 identification. Knabe, in 1907, gives the food as S. torvum, which, according 

 to Greenman, is confined to the Antilles. It feeds equally well upon Solanum 

 hertwigi Bereth (Camaron, Tierra Blanca, San Marcos), *S^. diversifoUum 

 Schlecht (San Marcos, Vera Cruz, Coatzocoalcos), and in captivity upon 

 *S'. lanceolatum Cuv., and S. chrysotnchum Schl. 



Juvenile Stages. 



Eggs: Laid in bunches upon the lower surface of leaves (plate 1, fig. 2), from 

 10 to 175 in a bunch; pale yellow in color, with stalk of coagulated gelatinous 

 cement; 1.25 to 2 mm. long, 0.75 to 1.00 mm. broad; flattened and concave on 

 ventral side. Incubation period from 7 to 18 days ; average 9 or 10 days. 



First larval stages: Head, pronotum, and legs, black; body-spots each with 

 one or more spines. Average length at end of stage 2 to 3.25 mm. 



Second larval stage: Head, pronotum, and legs, black; body white or trans- 

 parent, without spots or spines, except spiracula and wing-spots ; white color 

 increasing in intensity with growth, especially in the sternal and pleural por- 

 tions. Average length at end of stage 5.5 to 6.5 mm. 



