COLEOPTERV. 551 



cartli wlien attempted to be seized, fulding the antenna; and legs beneath the body. Many species 

 leap weU. The females are very prolific. 



In respect to the different habits of the larvae, the Cychca are divided into four principal groups : — 

 \. Larvae which cover themselves -with their own excrement; 2. LarvEC living in tubes, which they 

 bear about with them ; 3. Naked larvae; and, 4. LarvEe which live in the interior of leaves, feeding on 

 their parenchymc — {Cijdica solfatoria.) 



Such arc the principles which have influenced us in our arrangement of this family. AYe divide 

 them into three tribes, from the mode of insertion of the antennae, [Cassidariof, ChrysomelhiO:, and 

 Oalerucital . 



Tlie Casnidaria^, [or Tortoise Beetles,] which form the first tribe, have the antennae inserted at the 

 upper part of the head, close together, straight, short, filiform, and nearly cylindrical, or gradually 

 thickened towards the tip ; the mouth, entirely placed beneath, with short, nearly fihform palpi, is 

 sometimes arched round and sometimes partially received in a cavity of the prosternum ; the eyes are 

 ovoid and round ; tlie feet contractile, short, with the tarsi flattened, the lobes of the third joint 

 entirely receiving the terminal joint. The body being flat beneath, these insects, by means of the 

 arrangement of the tarsi, lie cluse upon the leaves, where they generally remain immoveable. In otlier 

 respects the body is generally orbicular or oval, and margined all round by the dilated thorax and elytra. 

 The head is hidden beneath the thorax, or received in an anterior notch. Their colours are very varied, 

 and prettily arranged in spots, points, rays, &c. Such of their larvae as we are acquainted with cover 

 themselves with their own excrements. The Cassidarise form two genera. The first, or that of 



HisPA, Linn., — 

 Has the body oblono;, with tlie head entire, exposed, and free, and tlie thorax trapeziform. The mandibles have 

 only two or three teeth ; the outer lobe of the maxillae is shorter than the inner ; the antennae are filiform. 



Alurnifs, Fahr., has the extremity of the mandibles prolonged into a strong tooth, with a shorter tooth on the 

 inside; the tong;ueIet is liorny. These ai'e South American insects of lai-ge size. 



Hispa, Linn., has the mandibles terminated by two or three small teeth of nearly equal size. There are a great 

 number of American species. Wany have the ujiper surface of the body, as well as a portion of the antennae, 

 armed with many spines. Such is llisjja atra, Liun., a small black species [of very rare occurrence in England], 

 which is found upon grass. 



Chalcpus, Thunb., has the tibia longer, slender, and curved, and the two anterior armed with a long spine in 

 the male [H. spinipes, Fabr.). Some species of Uispa have a frontal horn. H. rostratut.; Kirby, forming another 

 subgenus. 



Cassida, Linn. — 

 Is distinguished from Hispa by having the body orbicular, or subovoid, or nearly square in a few species. The 

 thorax, more oi" less semicircular, entirely hides or covers the head, or receives it in a deep frontal notch ; the 

 elytra, often elevated in the scutellar region, form a broad margin to the body ; the mandibles ofter at least four 

 teeth, and the outer maxillary lobe is at least as long as the internal lobe. 



Imaiidium, Faltr., differs only in having the head exposed, and received in a notch of the thorax. The body in 

 all tlie Cassida^ is depressed, nearly round, shield or tortoise-shaped, often elevated pyramidically in the middle 

 of the back, and margined all round by the sides of the thorax and elytra. The under-side of the body is tlat, 

 so that these insects fix themselves quite close to the plants on which they are stationed. 



Cassida viridis, is about l-6th of an inch long ; is of a green colour, with black thighs. Its larva lives on thistles 



and artichokes. Its body is very flat, and furnished with 

 spines all round the edges, and entirely covered by its own 

 excrement, which it attaches in a mass together, and carries 

 on a kind of fork fixed near the anus. The pupa is also very 

 flat, with thin toothed appendages at the sides of the body ; 

 the thorax is broad, rounded in front, and covers the head. 

 In the larva of a species from St. Uomingo the excrements 

 form small numerous articulated filaments like a wig. 



[The genus is very numerous, and comprises many sin- 

 Kit:. S4,— Cns^Mn vindii, in its diiTL-reiu states. gular fomis, somc of which havc been recently separated as 

 subgenera by the Rev. F. W. Hope, in the Annals of Natural Hi. s- tort/.'] 



The second tribe {Chrysornelin(p) has the antenna? inserted in front of the eyes, or near their inner 

 extremitv, and wide apart. These insects do not leap ; they form, with the following tribe and some 

 of the preceding family, the genus Chryf^omela of Linnanis ; but which, from its actual extent, we 

 have restricted by the adoption of some other. The species which possess the above characters form, 

 a'^ in the early works of Fabricius, two genera. 



