Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/278

founded with Pentatoma, till Lamark effected their separation. The peculiarity which has occasioned this separation, is necessarily accompanied with some others which render them very distinct. As the scutellum is placed over the wings, it must be sufficiently elevated not to prevent their movements, and this gives the body a much more convex and rounded appearance than among the other tribes, sometimes, indeed, it seems quite gibbous. They invariably live on plants, extracting the juices from the more tender parts, where they are able to introduce their sucker. No example of the genus occurs in Britain, and, indeed, very few inhabit any part of Europe. S. lineata, however,—a small species of a deep red colour marked with longitudinal black streaks—is plentiful on umbelliferous plants in the south of France, and along the northern shores of the Mediterranean. The greater proportion of those described in entomological works are from Java, China, East Indies, Cape of Good Hope, and Surinam. Most of these are very splendidly coloured insects, decorated with the deepest tints, and having a fine metallic gloss of golden-green, copper, or silver. The individual figured belongs to Serville's second subdivision, that in which there is no abdominal plate; the thorax with a lateral spine; the body long, and narrowing gradually to the hinder extremity. The colour is deep orange yellow, with several black spots, surrounded with light yellow, scattered over the surface; but the colour and markings are very variable. It is a native of China and Japan.