OHRYSOMELID^. 16^ 



" Linea metasttmali externe antrorsuin curvata ; elytra humeris, cumque 

 tnesostemo antice, adrecejJtionem femoris profunde -imjjressis ; jTrosterriiim, 

 in medio carinatimi." The cavity for the reception of the femora and the 

 carinate prosternum are certainly sufficient characters to separate it from 

 Phcedon, Latr., in Avhich there is no such cavity and the prosternum is not 

 carinate; in the latter genus the metasternal line is elongate, and is turned 

 backwards externally and meets the episternal suture nearer the hind 

 margin than the front. 



PH.SDON, Latreille. 

 As there has been considerable confusion between some authors who 

 regard F. concinmis, 8teph., and /•". cochlearice, i^,, as identical, and others 

 who consider them to be distinct, and as it seems clear that we possess 

 three, and not two species of Phcedon proper, it may be well to quote 

 some of the additional remarks of Dr. Sharp on these species (/.c. pp. 

 5 and 6). 



P. armoracise, L. {hetidce, Kiist.). This species, which must not be 

 confounded with Flagiodera versicolora, Laish (armoracice, F.), is usually 

 larger than the other membei s of the genus, and of a dark steel-blue 

 colour, with a prominent shoulder to the elytra which is always marked 

 on the scutellar side by a well-defined depre>sion ; the joints of the club 

 of the antennae are broad and short, 7-10 being distinctly transverse, and 

 there is no trace of any red colour on the undersides of the basal joints ; 

 the sculpture of the elytra is strong (all the strife being well markedj and 

 the punctuation of the interstices is quite distinct ; on the underside the 

 margin of the terminal plate is pale red. The variation is only slight. 



P. concinnus, Steph, Rather smaller, nari-ower, and more convex 

 than the preceding, with the humeral callus somewhat less marked 

 and the serial punctuation of the elytra more shallow ; the antennae are 

 always quite black, and on the underside there is no red colour on the 

 terminal plate. The colour is usually bright green or golden-green, and 

 occasionally violet-green or coppery, but never the same steel-blue as in 

 P. armoracice; on both the upper and undersides there is a peculiar faint 

 strigosity. 



P. cochleariae, F. In this species the humeral callus is indistinct ; 

 the first and second joints of the antenna? are obscurely marked with red 

 underneath, and the club is comparatively slender ; the tips of the tibipe 

 are usually red beneath, and there is only a very slight red coloration 

 on the hind margin of the last ventral plate of the abdomen ; the usual 

 form is bright blue, or more rarely greenish-blue ; specimens, however, 

 occur coloured as P. ai^moracio'. These may be distinguished by the 

 indistinct humeral callus. 



Dr. Sharp further says that the shape of sedeagus is difl:erent in tJie 

 three species. In P. concinnus the apical portion is longer than in the 

 other species, more curved, but parallel-sided. In P. armoracice this part 

 is naiTowed towards the tip, while in P. cochlearice the apical part is only 

 about half as lonsf as in P. concinnus. 



