Subgenus Fontaria.
Dorsum convexum. Laminæ laterales magnse, depressæ.
Dorsum convex. Lateral laminæ large, depressed.
P. Virginiensis.
P. castaneus; laminis lateralibus fulvis; appendicibus masculis maximis, spinulo gracile basale armato; spina
terminale breve, robusta, curvata, bifida. (Fig. 49.)
Chestnut, with yellowish lateral laminæ; male appendages large, armed with a slender basal spinule, their terminal spine short, robust, curved, bifid.
Iulus Virginiensis, Drury, Ins. Exotica.
Polyd. Virginiensis, Pal. Beavois. Ins. á Afr. et Amer. Apteres, pi. iv, fig. 5.
"" Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1st series, vol. ii.
"" Gervais Ann. Sc. Nat., 2d serie, t. vii, p. 43; et Exped. Suit, a Buffon, Apteres, vol. iv, p. 106; et Exped. L'Ameriq. du Sud (Castelneau), Myriapoda, p. 6.
"" Newport, Catal. Brit. Mus.
Fontaria Virginiensis, J. E. Gray, Griffith's Animal Kingdom Insecta, pi. 135, fig. 1.
Vix Polyd. Virginiensis, H. De Saussure, Memoir Soc. Hist. Nat. Geneva, tome xv, p. 320.
Fig. 49.
The color of this species is a dark reddish chestnut, with the lateral laminæ of bright yellow, sometimes verging towards orange. The under surface of the body is yellowish.
The scuta are wrinkled as in P. corrugatus, but not to so great an extent, at least in the individuals that have fallen under my observation. The head is of the same
color as the body; its vertex furrow is strongly pronounced; its anterior margin
yellowish and broadly emarginate. The antennæ are lightish chestnut, and distally very pilose, almost pubescent. The posterior scutum is triangular, with its
apex truncate; its color is that of the lateral laminæ. The latter have their
anterior angles somewhat rounded, their posterior moderately acute, rarely prolonged except in the last four or five. The male appendages are large and robust; from
each of the pair springs a small falciform spine, lying so close as not to be easily perceived. The terminal spine is set at an angle to the main process. Its base is very hairy,
and has springing from it a long slender spinule. Distally the spine is bifid and curiously
curved. [The figure represents only the terminal spine.] I have no specimens to enable
me to describe the female appendages.
In some individuals there exists a well-pronounced black, median, dorsal line. In others the pattern of coloration approximates that of P. corrugatus; but I have never seen a well-pronounced margination of the scuta. There may be some doubt as to whether this is the species intended to be indicated in the original description of P. Virginiensis, which
