42 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



An exceedingly well-defined insect, and one wMch may be readily recognised by 

 its comparatively slender and more parallel form, and by its foiu' binder tibiae 

 being simple in botli sexes. In fact, witb the exception, of course, of the dilata- 

 tion of the anterior tarsi, the sole difference between the males and the females 

 is that the former are just perceptibly the more shining of the two. In its large 

 size it recedes from all the Madeu-an Ai'gutors except the A. robiistus, from which 

 nevertheless its more depressed and narrower body, added to its much slenderer 

 legs, will, apart from the structm'c of its tibiae, at once remove it. It is not quite 

 so abu^ndant as that species, although widely distrilmted over the island at inter- 

 mediate altitudes. On the northern side indeed it descends to a low elevation, 

 since I have observed it, diu-ing the winter months, at the Passo d'^U'eia near 

 Sao Viucente beneath stones on the level of the sea-shore. On the southern, how- 

 ever, I l)elieve it seldom occurs below the elevation of about 1500 feet. 



30. Argutor dilaticoUis, Woll. 



A. oblongo-ovatus latus nigro-piceus valde depressus, prothorace subquadrato postice lato, elytris 

 Icviter striatis singulo punctis duobus distinctis impresso, antenais pedibusque rufo-piceis. 

 Mas, nitidus ; tibiis intermediis longe ante apicem iatus valde ampliato-distortis, posticis subrectis 



fere simplicibus. 

 Fcem. vix minus nitidus ; tibiis posterioribus simplicibus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 4^-5. 



Habitat sub lapidibus foliisque arborum dejectis per partem Maderse sylvaticam restate non infrequens : 

 ad Lombo dos Pecegueiros abundat, qua mense Julio a.d. 1850 copiose deprebensi. 



A. broad, oblong-ovate, robust, dark piceous, and mucli depressed. Prothorax large, subquadi'ate, 

 usually very broad bebind and a little narrowed in front ; witb a slight dorsal channel, and with 

 a somewhat obscure, impunctate fovea on either side at the base. Elytra ovate, broad at the 

 extreme base and attenuated posteriorly, where moreover there is scarcely any appearance of 

 trimcation or of excavation ; finely striated, the stria; impunctate, and the interstices much flattened ; 

 with two very distinctly impressed points in the same positions as those of the last species. 

 Antenna, palpi and legs rufo-piceous ; the last robust. 



Male, shining; the intermediate tibice considerably curved, a good deal dilated at, and suddenly 

 distorted internally a long way before, the apex ; and with the kinder ones straight and almost 

 simple. 



Female, scarcely less shining ; and with the four kinder tibia simple. 



The present Argutor and the foUo^^•ing one, from then- smaller size and com- 

 paratively ovate forms, are not likely to be confoimded with either of the pre- 

 ceding species, and it is consequently only necessary to be able to distinguish them 

 inter se. The males can of course be at once recognised from the characters 

 given ill thcii- respective diagnoses, — the iutermeiUate tibia? being much curved in 

 those of the A. dilaticoUis, and with the ianer edge considerably distorted or 

 developed at a distance from the apex ; whilst in those of the A. ciirtm the whole 



