262 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on Additions to Madeiran Coleoptera. 



Proper by Mr. Bewicke, to whose indefatigable researches we 

 are indebted for so many additions to our fauna. He informs 

 me that he found it amongst some " Euphorbia rubbish " in his 

 garden at the Palmeira, in company with the (likewise unique) 

 Prostheca aspera, but was not able to obtain another specimen. 

 Its 10-articulated antennae, and the minutely serrated margins 

 of its head, prothorax, and elytra, in conjunction with the very 

 peculiar construction (and position) of its eyes, at once show it 

 to be a true Metophthalmus ; nevertheless, in the relative pro- 

 portions and shape of its antennal joints, it recedes from the 

 M. asperatus very considerably. Thus, all the joints from the 

 third to the eighth inclusive are minute, subglobose, and moni- 

 liform, being nearly equal throughout ; whereas in the M. aspe- 

 ratus the fourth is very much longer than the (diminutive) third 

 one ; and from thence to the eighth they sensibly decrease in 

 length, and increase a little (though only a very little) in breadth. 

 Then the (biarticulated) club itself is somewhat different, the 

 penultimate joint being almost globose, and the terminal one 

 oblong; whereas in the M. asperatus the ninth joint is di- 

 stinctly poculiform, and the tenth largely truncated, in an 

 oblique direction, internally, causing it to be much acuminated 

 at its inner apex. 



Judging both from the description and the figure, I have 

 little doubt that the genus Bonvouloiria of Jacquelin Duval 

 [vide Genera des Coleop. d'Europe, ii. 245, A.D. 1857-59] is in 

 reality coincident with Metophthalmus ; for, although M. Duval 

 describes the antennae as only 9-articulate, still the third joint 

 is so very minute that it might be mistaken for a portion 

 of the second, by which indeed it is also, when in its normal 

 position, somewhat hidden ; so that it might be easily over- 

 looked, unless the antenna be flattened out and mounted in 

 Canada Balsam for the microscope. He does not describe any 

 of the oral organs of his insect, except the upper lip and the 

 terminal joint of the maxillary palpi; but these so entirely cor- 

 respond with those of the M. asperatus, whilst the external 

 details to which he calls attention are so exactly in accordance 

 with those observed by myself in Madeira, that I am the more 

 inclined to suspect that he was mistaken as to the precise 

 number of its antennal joints. Moreover, the habit of the Bon- 

 vouloiria niveicollis is precisely that of the Metophthalmus ; for 

 he expressly notices the curious chalky substance (" la substance 

 blanche cretacee ") with which the under sides, as well as a por- 

 tion of the head and prothorax, of his specimens (which he cap- 

 tured near Montpelier) were covered, a peculiarity which I 

 pointed out in my Madeiran Catalogue in 1857, where I stated 

 that I believed this white powdery matter to be the particles of 



