224 ON THE BBBlLBS OF THE GENUS OAtlilflaAPHA, [Feb. 4, 



17. Baebus, sp. 



A very young specimen, 5 em. long, from Lake Sudolf, cannot 

 be specifically determined. 



18. MOEMYEUS ZAMBANBNJE, PtrS. 



In a specimen from Geledi on the Webi Shebeli (19.1,95) the 

 dorsal fin is a little more than half as long as the anal. D. 21. 

 A. 41. 



3. Remarks on the System of Coloration and Punctuation in 

 the Beetles of the Genus Calligrapha. By Martin 

 Jacoby, F.E.S. 



[Received January 2, 1896.] 



The paper which I have the honour to lay before the Society 

 gives a short account of a somewhat exceptional feature in the 

 Coleoptera, which occurs amongst the Chrysomelidae in the genus 

 Calligrapha, but in no other families of Coleoptera to my know- 

 ledge. This genus has its metropolis in Central America, and is 

 represented by numerous prettily marked species, all more or less 

 closely allied. In these insects, the ground-colour of the elytra 

 is always pale yellow, but often assumes a golden hue when the 

 insect is alive : this yellow ground-colour is marked with metallic 

 brown or blue, sometimes violet spots, and stripes, but in many 

 species this colour (if it can be so called)is replaced by reddish-fulvous 

 or brown, not of a metallic hue. The elytra of most Coleoptera 

 are impressed with more or less deep punctures, either arranged 

 in longitudinal rows or irregularly distributed, aud even when the 

 elytra are pubescent the punctures will be seen when the hairs 

 are removed. In no other insects of this order do the punctures 

 seem to be dependent on the coloration or pattern of the elytra, 

 or vice versa, but both go their own way ; but in the case of the 

 genus CalligrapJia the interesting observation may be made that 

 nearly all stripes or spots, no matter how few or many or what may 

 be their shape, are bounded or surrounded at their margins by a row 

 of deep punctures, deeper than those of the ground-colour, beyond 

 which the colour does not extend. This is very remarkable, since 

 I know of no instance in which punctures assume a circle in other 

 species, much less that circular and longitudinal rows of punctures 

 are found in the same individual according to the design as is the 

 case in CalUgrapJia. The question which strikes one now is, how 

 could this coloration influence a deep punctuation or the latter the 

 colouring of the insect : a few instances are found in which some 

 of the spots or bands are free from punctures at their lower portion, 

 but their outlines are just as well defined as those which have the 

 punctures complete. According to Burmeister, the punctures of 

 the elytra are formed by the interruption of the chitinous matter, 

 causing small pits or punctures to be formed, but the regularity 



