102 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



S. hemispherical, black, and somewhat opake; most closely and delicately punctulated all o\er. 

 Prothorax and ehjtra with their extreme lateral margins narrowly rufo-testaceous ; the latter with 

 the apex broadly, and more or less brightly rufo-testaceous ; each with an impressed sutural line 

 behind, and with a most obscure and obsolete patch (generally scarcely perceptible, except when 

 the elytra are upraised) towards the shoulders rufescent. Legs rufo-ferruginous. 



The Macleiran state of tliis common European insect would appear to be that in 

 which the subhumeral patches of the elytra are aU but evanescent ; since it is only 

 in very rare instances that they are distinctly perceptible. It is abundant thi-ough- 

 out Madeii'a, in the dung of cattle, though priacipally at rather low elevations. 

 Tn the -\-icimty of Fiinchal, and at Santa Anna in the north of the island, I have 

 o])sorved it very plentifully at most seasons of the year. 



Genus 38. CERCYON. 



Leach, Zool. Mwcell. iii. 95 (1817). 



Corpus parvum, convexum : prnthornce postice lato : eli/tris ])lerumque profunde striatis : mesosterno 

 carinato : vietasterno \t\-Ano, antice baud producto : «/wamplis. ^H<e7i««'J-articuliitfebreviuscul;e, 

 articulo ])rimo longissimo ad basin flexuoso, secundo brevi subconico-truncato, tertio, quarto 

 quintoque minutissimis, sexto latiore subpoculiformi, reliquis clavam magnam pubescentem 

 subsolidam oblongo-ovalem triarticulatam efficientibus. Luhrum breve transversum, antice 

 integi-um et dense ciliatum. Mandibulte valid.T, apice edentata; incurvae, intus membranaccfe 

 ciUatse. Maxilla bilobse membranacese : lobo externa brevi lato, apice dense barbato : interna 

 angustiore brcvissimo, intus membranil (ad apicem pencilhita) iustructo. Palpi maxillares 

 longiusculi graciles, articulo secundo robuslo subclavato : lahiales mediocres. Meittum amplum 

 semicircularc. Liijula lata, profunde biloba, lobis divergentibus pubescentibus. Pedes fossorii, 

 robusti : femoribus tibiisqnc compressis ; his seriato-spinulosis, apicem versus (pi-asertim poste- 

 rioribus) dilatatis : tarsis (prsesertim posterioribus) articulo primo elongate libcro. 



Cercyon may be readily known fi-om SphcericUum by the smaller and convexer 

 l)odies of the insects which compose it, by theii' more or less deeply striated elytra, 

 by theii' less powerfully spiued tibia3, and by the somewhat more solid club of 

 their 9-jointcd antenntx;. ^Mthough ty|)ically stercoraccous, some of the species 

 have a decidedly subaquatic tendency, residing amongst moss and decaying 

 vegetable matter in marshy spots, and at the edges of ponds, — into the mud and 

 refuse of which their powerful tibiae enable them to bm-row \nth considerable 

 dexterity. It is a genus more particularly abundant in northern and temperate 

 latitudes. Like the Homalotcc however, and many of the smaller dimg-iiifestmg 

 Brachclytra, the Cercya are constantly liable to become naturalized thi'ough the 

 agency of cattle ; and I think it far from improbable that two at least, out of the 

 four Madeiran representatives, may have been originally introduced into the 

 island, either from south-western Europe or else fi'om England. 



