18 



CIIRYSOMELIISyE. 



been proposed, some cannot be used, for reasons explained in my 

 paper cited above. But there are several names published in 

 18(50 by Motschulsky as new genera, which have since been sunk 

 as synonyms of " Chrysomela." Prom among these the name 

 Chrysolina is here selected, and a common European species, 

 Chrysomela staphylea, L., is designated as its genotype. 



Since the time of Linnaeus this genus has (under the name 

 Chrysomela) at various time served as a repository of almost all 

 insects belonging to this subfamily, but as later writers observed 

 differences in a more critical manner, species were separated off, 

 new genera being proposed to contain them. Even now it is the 

 largest genus in the subfamily. So far as the species within our 

 faunistic limits are concerned, the genus may be characterized as 

 follows: — The insects are generally oblong: or elongate; in one 

 or two cases they are strongly convex. Bead: antennas always 

 separated by the whole width of the front of the head, rarely 

 passing beyond the middle of the elytra, generally within that 

 limit, frequently shorter; the basal five or six segments differ in 

 structure from the following segments, the former being more 

 slender, shining and less pubescent, while the latter become more 

 or less thicker and opaque ; of the basal segments the first is large, 

 thickened and sometimes club-shaped, and the third is the longest, 

 while of the apical segments the last is the longest and often 

 bluntly pointed, the rest being alike in form; clypeus separated 

 from the rest of the surface by a transverse line, which may be 

 curved or may consist of two straight lines meeting at a point in 

 the middle, from which a median longitudinal line generally 

 proceeds towards the vertex ; these lines vary in the intensity of 

 their impression, the latter sometimes being obsolete; surface 

 generally punctate, but sometimes the punctures are obsolete, it 

 may be depressed in the middle, the areas round the roo?s of 

 the antennae being slightly elevated ; maxillary palpi variable, 

 sometimes having the ultimate and penultimate segments of 

 different lengths, the former slightly longer than the latter or 

 vice versa. ProtJwrax: pronotum always broader than long, but 

 sometimes the length so nearly approaches the breadth that the 

 whole looks quadrate; front margin generally concave, fitting 

 the width of the head, front angles more or less produced but 

 always rounded, sides varying in their inclination to each other, 

 the ba^al margin usually sinuate ; upper surface generally punctate, 

 each side having a longitudinal excavation containing coarser and 

 confluent punctures; between the excavation and the extreme 

 margin the surface is generally convex and impunctate or very 

 finely and sparsely punctate; these characters vary so that some- 

 times the excavation and the punctures may be obsolete, or on the 

 other hand they may be very deep and the convex marginal strips 

 greatly accentuated. Scutelhim always triangular, varying within 

 very narrow limits, among our species impunctate except in a few 

 cases*. Elytra almost always slightly broader at the base than 



* Ch. vishnu, Ch. manipurensis and Ch. co&lestina. 



