38 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



promiscuously the clry, loosely-attached, external fibre, when the OUsthopi would 

 fall out hj hundi-eds from beneath it. They were generally accompanied by the 

 pupa and imago of a minute Blatta, which, if possible, was even the more agUe of 

 the two. They were seldom to be obtaiaed by any other means, although aberrant 

 specimens might here and there be seen, beneath stones, or the chippings of 

 timber, — the too frequent indications of the woodman's axe in those remote 

 regions. 



27. OUsthopus elongatus, WoU. 



O. parallelo-ovatus depressus fusco-seueus, prothorace subquadi-ato-rotundato, elytris striatis, singulo 



punctis tribus impresso, margine obscure siibflavescenti, antennis pedibusquc pallido-testaceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 2|. 



Habitat sub lapidibus in pinetis Madera, necnon in collibus apricis maritimis, bine inde autumno non 

 infrequens. 



O. elongate-ovate aud considerably parallel, a little shining, depressed, and brassy-brown. Head 

 and /jroMorr/a' rather darker than the elytra; the. former somewhat short; the latter subquadrate, 

 and with the hinder angles a little rounded, rugosely punctured at the sides and behind, and 

 with a channel down the disk. Elytra distinctly striated, with three rather large impressions 

 down the disk of each near to the third stria from the suture ; the margins, especially at the 

 shoulders, obscurely fuscescent. Let/s, antenna and paljii pale testaceous. 



Apart from minor characteristics sufiiciently apparent, the O. elongatus may be 

 known from its Madeu'an allies by its narrower aud more parallel outline, and by 

 its subquadrate, concolorous prothorax. It would seem to be the representative 

 in these islands of the European O. fuscatus, although at the same time pre- 

 senting too many distinctive peculiarities of its own to allow of its being identified 

 with that insect. Thus, it recedes from it in its much smaller size, narrower and 

 more parallel form, in its pale teneous surface, in its more quacbate and rather 

 shorter prothorax, and in its less deeply striated elytra. Nevertheless it has 

 clearly a greater affinity with the ordinary OUsthopi of more northern latitudes 

 than either of the other species. It is, apparently, not very common, and con- 

 fined to lower altitudes than the O. Ericce and the O. 3Iaderensis, occurring, 

 beneath stones, either on the grassy slopes in the viciaity of the coast, or else in 

 the pine-woods of intermediate elevations. I have obser^'cd it fi-equcntly, dm-ing 

 the autumnal months, on the exposed sunny cliffs towards the Brazen Head, and 

 in the fii*-plantations below the Palheiro,— a position in which it has been likewise 

 captm*ed, subsequently, by M. Rousset. 



Genus 14. ARGUTOR. 



(Megerie) Steph. W. Brit. Ent. i. 102 (1S28). 



Coifus mediocre, plus minusve oblongo-quadratvim, dcpressum : prothorace quadi-ato, postice (in 

 nostris saltern) lato : alts modo amplis, mode (ut in speciebus Maderensibus) obsolctis. Antenna 



