X INTRODUCTION. 



and adjusted to the peculiar nature of the country in which they are placed, that 

 we cannot resist the conclusion that, whatever may have heen the extent or con- 

 dition of that ancient continent of which these several Atlantic clusters are the 

 sure witnesses, that portion of it at any rate which the Madeiras may be supposed 

 to represent was not only singularly rich in creations adapted specially to itself, 

 but also that the various forms must have migrated but very slightly ere the land 

 of passage was destroyed, — seeing that many of them had apparently not even 

 reached those points of its area which are now the detached portions of the actual 

 group. That this is really a fact, we may appeal, intei' alia, to such insects as the 

 Tarphii (only a single one of which, out of 15, occurs beyond Madeii-a proper), to 

 Argutor and Trechiis (of the same island), to Acalles (of which 12 members, out 

 of 13, belong to the central mass), to the aberrant Atlantides and the Anemophili 

 (almost exclusively Porto Santan), or to Deucalion (which reigns supreme on the 

 nearly inaccessible heights of the two southern Dezertas). 



Although it is of com-se possible that some few out of the 270 species, and even 

 of the 11 genera, which I have treated as novelties, may have l^een ah-eady made 

 known, yet I believe it will be fovmd, on inspection, that such instances are rare ; 

 whilst concerning the claims of the majority of them, being apparently of an 

 endemic natm'e, there cannot be the slightest doubt. In addition to these 270 

 species, there are 11 which had been pre\aously characterized as Madeiran ; thus 

 raising the entire num1)er to 281, — which, out o/ 182, it must be admitted is a 

 large proportion to possess cceii the chance of being peculiar to these islands. The 

 genera of the present volimie amount, in aU, to 213 : one of these {Cossyphodes) 

 had been lately described as jMad'eh-an ; and 9 at least (namely Calobius, Dactylo- 

 sterimm, Xenostrongylus, Metophthalmus, Jflicrochondrus, Pecteropus, Deucalion, 

 ArthroUps and Macrostethus), out of the 41 which arc indicated as new, I have 

 reason to suspect have exponents elscAvhere, — which reduces the modifications 

 which may, or may not, he endemic (but the larger portion of Avhich probably are) 

 to 3-1. Amongst these 31, perhaps the most remarkable are Zargus, Cossyphodes, 

 Eitrops, Aphanarthrum, Leijjarthrmn, Echinosoma, Xenorchestes, Gloeosoma, and 

 Ellipsodes. 



It will be seen, on a reference to the Systematic Catalogue of this work, that the 

 total absence of numerous genera (and even of whole families) which are looked 

 upon as all but universal, constitutes one of the most striking featm'cs in om* 

 entomological fauna. Thus, incredible though it may seem, not so much as a 

 solitary \vitness of the Cicindelidce, Dujjrestida; or Pselaphidce has hitherto been 

 l)rought to light ; whilst the great genera Carabits*, Nebria*, Silpha, Necro- 



* In Dejean's Catalogue there ia a Carahm registered as Madeiran, under the name of C interruptus ; 

 aud a Nebria under that of N. dilatata : but, as no vestige of either one genus or the other has come 

 beneath my notice, and since they have totally escaped the researches of the Ecv. E. T. Lowe for a period 

 of twenty-six years, as also of the late Dr. lleinecken and of every other naturalist (so far as I am aware) 

 subsequently ; I have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing Dejean's insects (whatsoever they were) 



