COCCIXELLIDiE. 



121 



The genera are very badly denned ; hence my ideas of geographical 

 genera seem quite upset ; Halyzia, for instance, has representatives 

 in Europe, North and South America, China, Japan, India, Africa, 

 Australia, and the Pacific Islands ; or if again we take the large 

 genus Epilachna (containing 223 species), although it has an Eastern 

 and a New World type very different in appearance, yet these cannot 

 be separated generically without the process (which must at last 

 take place) of subdivision into many genera, as there are con- 

 tingents from every part of the world, and these not very much 

 differentiated. I think that a careful analysis of the Coccikellid^ 

 would show that they are a north temperate zone family, the 

 tropical species having rather the appearance of being derived 

 than of being autochthonous." 



The Indian and Malay region is very rich in Coccixellidte, 

 especially in the fine and large forms belonging to the Caejente^ 

 Epieachnixye, etc. 



The Ltthophilinve have the third joint of the tarsi free and not 

 concealed, and bear the same relation to the rest of the family as 

 the Dacnixye bear to the Eeotylidje, and the MvcET-ErxiE to the 

 E]n~domychid.ye ; judging by the form of the mandibles they are 

 carnivorous, but the exact nature of their food has not yet been 

 ascertained. 



The family may be roughly divided as follows : — 



I. Third tarsal joint concealed in the lobes of the 



second joint ; tarsi apparently 3-jointed. 

 i. Mandibles with a basal tooth and with simple 



or bifid apex Coccinellin/e. 



ii. Mandibles without a basal tooth and with a 



multidentate apex Epilachninye. 



II. Third tarsal joint free : tarsi plainly 4-jointed, . Ljthophilinye. 



Ganglbauer (Z. c. p. 945) points out that Weise, who has given a 

 good table of the European familes in the ' Bestimmungs Tabellen 

 der europaischen Coleopteren,' has formed a third group (besides 

 Chapuis' two groups) for the genera Coelojrtems, PTiarus and Stilo- 

 cotis, which he calls Pseudococcixeelid^;. In these genera the 

 apical joint of the maxillary palpi is not securiform or hatchet- 

 shaped, as is usual in the family, but is conically pointed. 



The only definite character on which the Coccixellidye can be 

 distinguished from the E^omychidye appears to be the shape 

 of the epimera of the mesosternum. The importance of this 

 character was noticed by Chapuis (Lacordaire's Gen. Coleopteres, 

 xii, p. 154) ; though whether it is sufficient to separate the families 

 is doubtful. But for the well-known facies of the insects, they 

 might with advantage be all united under one family. 



