of the Royal Physical Society. 281 



Lebia, Lat. 



1. L. bicolor, Dej. 5. 366. 



Rufa; elytris subsulcatis, viridi-cyaneis ; geniculis nigris. 

 Long. 4-£ lin., lat. If lin. 



2. L. bis-binotata, mihi. 



Rufo-testacea ; elytris striatis, nigris vel nigro-brunneis, mar- 

 gine reflexo, puncto humerali, et quatuor maculis dorsalibus, 

 duabus anterioribus magnis, duabus posterioribus minoribus, 

 luteis. 



Long. 4| Hn., lat. If lin. 



Nearly of the same form as L. bicolor. Rufo-testaceous ; the 

 elytra very dark umber, almost black, with the reflexed margin, 

 a humeral spot connected with the margin, one large roundish 

 spot on the anterior portion of the disk of each elytron, and a 

 smaller roundish spot on each side of the suture near the apex, 

 pale testaceous ; the posterior spots placed closer together than 

 the anterior. Antenna? filiform, with the three basal joints testa- 

 ceous, the third darker at the base, the remaining joints dusky 

 and pubescent, the last joint paler at the apex. Head ferruginous, 

 longitudinally strigose in the middle ; the strigations tending 

 obliquely to the centre ; two faint depressions in front ; clypeus 

 smooth; the parts of the mouth rufo-testaceous; tips of mandibles 

 darker ; eyes prominent (though not quite so much so as in L. 

 bicolor) . Labrum moderate, broader than long, slightly rounded 

 in front. Mentum toothed*. Thorax rufous in the middle, the 

 margins pale and transparent, broadly reflexed ; mesial longitudi- 



* As is observed by Prof. Lacordaire (Genera des Coleopteres, i. 127), 

 there is considerable difference of opinion among authors, whether in the 

 genus Lebia the mentum has a middle tooth or not ; Bonelli, Chaudoir, 

 and others maintaining that it has ; while Schiodte, Schmidt-Goebel, and 

 Lacordaire himself are of opinion that it has not, — viewing the piece which 

 is supposed by the former to be a tooth, as a semi-corneous plate which 

 forms the central base of the ligula, and, in dissecting the head, is often 

 taken off attached to the mentum, but is separable from it. That it is so 

 in some instances, there is no doubt ; as, for instance, in Lebia crux minor. 

 In other cases there is no appearance of a tooth at all, either as forming 

 part of the mentum or the base of the ligula. Lebia scapularis, and other 

 North American species, are examples of this. On the contrary, in 

 certain species, as the present, the tooth appears distinctly to form part 

 of the mentum, although it thins off and becomes semitransparent at the 

 edges, the harder texture running up its middle continuously from the rest 

 of the mentum. The truth is, that there are several forms of the mentum 

 among the species which at present are ranked in this genus, and it should 

 probably be broken up into two or three sections. In that case, the pre- 

 sent and the following species would fall under different heads. 



