TETRAMEROTJS PLANT-BEETLES. 
165 
A. Last joint, of palpi widened and truncated ; claws toothed Orbodacna. 
A A. Last joint of palpi not wider than the others and pointed ; claws simple ClUOCRRls. 
Orsodncna , a name taken from the Greek and meaning a bud-gnawer , 
was originally applied to some insect now unknown, which was injuri- 
ous to fruit trees. It includes three sub-genera: Orsodacna, Latr., having 
the thorax uniform and the eyes entire; Zeugophora , Kunze, having the 
eyes notched and the thorax with a lateral tubercle ; and Syneta, Esch., 
with several short teeth at the sides of the thorax. The species are of 
moderate size, and either blackish or dull yellow, but more commonly 
with both of these colors combined. We have twelve species, some of 
which are very variable, and have been described under different names. 
The only species of Grioceris proper found in the United States, is the 
imported asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi , Linn., which has become 
naturalized in some of the Eastern States. Most of our species are now 
placed in the sub-genus Lema, Fabr., as restricted by Lacordaire, and 
distinguished by having the thorax constricted or narrowed a little be- 
hind the middle. The most common species is the Lema trilineata, Oli- 
vier, or the Three-lined potato-beetle, a quarter of an inch long, yellow, 
with three black stripes on the elytra. Mr. Crotch enumerates twelve 
other species, most of which inhabit the Southern States. 
Sub-family CHRYSOMELIDES. 
This sub-family is founded upon the typical genus Chrysomela, of Lin- 
naeus, a word which literally means a golden apple , and which was ob- 
viously given to these insects in allusion to their rounded form and 
[Fig. 8i.j beautiful colors, which not un- 
frequently exhibit a golden hue. 
Their most distinctive scientific 
\ character, as compared with the 
other sub-families of this tribe, 
is the distance from each other 
of the antennae at their points of 
attachment, being always farther 
apart than the length of the first 
CnitY60MEi.A (MVOOOitVNA) juncta. Genuar:-a, eggs; • • t OI . *1, ...... 
b b, law® ; c, beetle ; d, wing-oover; e, anterior lug — JOlIlbj dlKl 011(311 LW O OI turLO 
alter alley. times as far, taken in connection 
with the gradual but slight enlargement of these organs towards the 
tip. The sub-family comprises two well-marked groups, which are re- 
garded by some entomologists as distinct sub-families, and which may 
be designated by the terms of Ohrysomeliui and Eumolpini. In the 
former the thorax is transversal, that is, wider than it is long, strongly 
margined, and as wide at base as the elytra; the antennas are moder- 
ately robust, sub-mouiliform, and almost always less than half as long 
as the body ; the anterior coxae are transverse; the 3d joint of the tarsi 
