98 



HALTICINJE. 



be inserted close together, or may almost touch the eyes (see 

 fig. 92) ; (4) the anterior coxae are not conically prominent at the 

 apex, as they are in the Galerucinje, a group of which the 

 Haltioim have hitherto formed a part. 



External Form and Structure. 



The members of the present subfamily are generally small in 

 size (at least within our t'aunistic limits), varying from 2 mm. to 

 17 mm., the latter magnitude being exceptional. The coloration 

 is generally dull, very rarely brilliant or metallic. The head is 

 usually as broad as the pronotum, and sometimes has the mouth- 

 parts exserted, but taken as a whole it is not large; in form it is 

 transverse and more or less rounded. In many of these insects 

 the front is differentiated from the vertex by a transversely im- 

 pressed line, which may be rounded or angled in the middle, the 

 impression varying in depth. The antennce do not present a great 

 variety of form. Normally each is composed of eleven segments; 

 in the genus Psylliodes, Latr., the number is ten, while in 

 Konarthra, Baly, it is reduced to nine. In another genus of 

 OiiBVSOMELiPiE, Pl(ttyi>ria, Guer., belonging to the subfamily 

 HisriNiE, the number of segments is also nine, and there it can 

 be recognized that the last segment is formed by the fusion of 

 three segments. Neither in Psylliodes nor in Nonarthra can any 

 such trace of the process of reduction be recognized. In a large 

 number of cases the antennas are somewhat thickened towards the 

 apex, but in some forms they become slightly thinner. In length 

 they vary, reaching in some species only to the base of the 

 pronotum, in others as far as a little beyond the apex of the 

 elytra, but never attaining such great length as is sometimes 

 found amongst the GaleiujCin.e. In our region no genus has 

 yet been found with tiabellate or pectinate antennae, though such 

 a condition does occur elsewhere among the Halticjnje. The 

 relative lengths of the live or six basal segments have a taxonomic 

 value. The interantennal space is generally narrow and contains 

 a deep longitudinal impression, on each side of which there is a 

 longitudinal elevated ridge, which may slightly expand towards 

 the vertex or may vary in height, etc.; these ridges are referred 

 to in the descriptions as frontal elevations or carina? (see fig. 62), 

 and they have been found useful, in combination with other 

 characters, in separating genera and species; sometimes they are 

 entirely absent. The eyes are rounded, oval, and generally convex, 

 and are situated at points widely separated from each other, except 

 in the genus Paradibulia, where they are closely approximated at 

 the vertex, being only separated by a thin strip (see tig. 1] 0). The 

 mouth-jiarts consist of the pieces usually present in adult beetles, 

 labrum, mandibles, maxillae each with a four-segmented palp, and 

 labium with a pair of three-segmented palpi ; the relative length, 

 form and thickness of the apical and penultimate segments of the 

 maxillary palpi have afforded, in some cases, characters which have 



