INSECTA MADERENSIA. 81 



et altera minore longe intra apicem sita, ad marginem fere coufluentibus ornato, antennarum 

 basi pedibusque rufo-picescentibus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 2-2^. 



Habitat ad margines aquarutn, vel stagnantium vel fluentium, in Madera excelsa sylvatica, rarius : ad 



Cruzinhas prfedominatj qua mense Julio ineunte a.d. 1850 plurima specimina cepi. 

 In honorem Entomologici periti Dom. Ferd. Jos. Schmidt nomen triviale dedi. 



B. shining, and deep feneous-black. Prothorax cordate, a good deal wrinkled in front, coarsely- 

 punctured and much attenuated behind, the posterior angles being right angles ; with a dorsal 

 channel ; and a small fovea on either side at the base. Elytra oblong-ovate ; deeply punctate- 

 striated anteriorly, the striae being almost evanescent about the middle ; with two large, though 

 not very deeply impressed points on the disk of each near the third stria from the suture, and 

 each with a large subtriangular patch about the shoulders, and a smaller, somewhat rounded one 

 at a considerable distance behind the apex (the two almost united towards the lateral margin), 

 dull testaceous. Antenna at base and legs more or less rufo-picescent. 



The present Bemhidium would seem to be the Madeiran representative of the 

 B. callosum, Kust., of central and southern Europe. It is not impossi])le indeed 

 that it may be an extreme local state of that insect ; nevertheless, like the B. tabel- 

 latum, it possesses so many peculiarities essentially its own that I prefer retaining 

 it as separate to incurring the risk of conceding too much to geographical effects. 

 It differs from the species in qiiestion in being larger, and proportionably broader, 

 ia its more brassy hue, in the obscurer patches of its much more deeply striated 

 elytra, and in its legs being uniformly darker and more piceous. It is, apparently, 

 exceedingly rare, or at any rate local, its normal range being the edges of the 

 streams and pools towards the upper limits of the wooded districts. The only 

 occasion on which I ever observed it plentifully was, in the lofty region of the 

 Cruzinhas, during July 1850. I once indeed caj)tm'ed a few specimens even on the 

 level of the shore, on the coast-road leading from Sao Vincente to Seisal, — in the 

 vicinity of the first large waterfall, which issues from the ravines above and finds 

 its way, over the beach, into the sea. From the nature of the spot, however, I 

 have not the slightest doubt but that they had been washed down by some of the 

 floods Avhich occur so frequently in Madeira, and with such violence, especially 

 towards the north of the island, as occasionally to carry almost everytliing before 

 them; — a supj)osition which is rendered the more probable from the fact that 

 other insects, unquestionably alpine, were found in company with them, which 

 could scarcely have existed in such a position except by accident. 



M 



