MNIOPHILA. AKGOPUS. 



429 



Owiug to the existing doubt as to whether Motschulsky's 

 species, included below, really belongs to the genus Mniophila, 

 this genus is not incorporated in the key on pp. 283-286. See 

 the further remarks below, under M. rujicolle. 



351. Mniophila ruficolle, MotschulsTcy . -= 



Mniophila rujicolle, Motsch., Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xxxix, 1866, 

 part 1, no. 2, p. 422. 



I have not seen this insect. The following is a translation of 

 the original description in Latin : — 



With the form of Mnioph. muscorum, but larger and slightly 

 more oblong. Oblong-ovate, strongly convex, shining, with the 

 head, base of the antennae, thorax, scutellum and legs, reddish- 

 testaceous ; elytra punctate, green ; apical part of the antennae 

 and the underside of the body black. 



Length, I line; breadth, ± line [approximately 2 mm. and 1 mm. 

 respectively]. 



Ceylon : JNuwara Eliya. 



Location of type unknown. 



The generic decription is taken from M. muscorum, Koch, which 

 occurs in G-reat Britain, and specimens of which I have examined 

 in the British Museum collection. It cannot be stated definitely 

 whether the Ceylonese insect really belongs to this genus. The 

 above enumeration of the generic characters of Mniophila will, 

 however, be useful, should there be found in Ceylon an insect 

 which conforms to the coloration of M. ruficolle. There are only 

 three species recorded under this genus, two from Europe and 

 one (M. ruficolle) from Ceylon. It must be remembered that 

 Motschulsky's Ceylonese insect occurred at a great elevation. 



Genus ARGOPUS, Fischer. 



Argopus, Fischer, Ent. Russ. ii, 1824, p. 182, pi. 47, figs. 3, 4; 

 Chapuis, Gen. Col. xi, 1875, p. 133. 



G-ENOTYPE, Argopus bicolor, Eischer (Elisabethgrad, S.W. 

 Russia). 



The chief character on which the erection of this genus was 

 built is the weak leaping power of the insect, to which Eischer 

 called attention by naming it Argopus. The type-species, which 

 he called bicolor and which I have not seen, was from S.W. 

 Russia. But there are in the British Museum many other 

 species from various places ; these I have examined, and I have 

 accordingly drawn up the following short generic diagnosis : — 

 Body generally ovate and rather strongly convex ; the pre- 

 vailing colour is brown in its various shades, but sometimes 

 certain parts are black. Head impunctate, interantennal elevations 

 not strongly raised ; eyes large. Antennae hardly reaching the 

 middle of the body ; first segment long and club-shaped, second 



