INSECTA MADERENSIA. 107 



impressed stria near the suture. Antemue very slightly incrassated towards their apex ; their basal 

 joints and the legs ferruginous. 



A common European insect, but apparently of the greatest rarity in Madeii-a, 

 the only two indigenous examples which I have seen having been captiu'ed by 

 myself at the edges of the Levada of the Eil^eiro Frio, during the early spring. 

 They differ in no respect from the ordinary type, except that their antennse are 

 perhaps just perceptibly longer, and somewhat less incrassated at their apex. 



Fam. 8. PTILIAD-Sl. 



Genus 40. ACRATRICHIS. 



Motsehulsky, Bull, de la Soc. Imp. de Moscou, xxi. 569 (1848). 



Corpus minutissimum, latum, punctatissimum, pubescens : prothorace maximo convexo, basi plerumque 

 latissimo, angulis posticis plus minusve produetis : ehjtris subdepressis, apice truncatis : meso- 

 sterno carinato, scutello maximo : abdomine ex segmentis ventralibus sex composito : alls 

 amplissimis lanceolatis, pilis longissimis instructis. AntenncB rectae capillares pilosse, articulis 

 primo et secuudo robustissimis subquadratis, tertio ad octavum graciUbus latitudine eequalibus, 

 reliquis sensim crassiores, clavam laxam valde elongatam triarticulatam efficientibus. Lahrum 

 amplum porrectum subtriaugulare. Mandibula acut?e, intus bidentatse. Maxilla biloboe mem- 

 branacese : lobo externo elongato, intus crenulato : interna breviore angustiore, intus ciliato. 

 Palpi maxillai-es articulo penultimo maximo lato subpyriformi, ultimo minutissimo aciculari : 

 labiates biarticulatl gracillimi, ad apicem ligulfe inserti. Me/iium angustum transversum. 

 Ligula elongata, apice fissa, basi paraglossis aucta. Pedes valde cursorii, graciles : coxis posticis 

 laminatis distantibus : tarsis 3-articulatis, articido ultimo elongato. 



The excessive minuteness of the insects comprehended luider the Ptiliada; wdll 

 at once distinguish them from the members of every other family. The entire 

 group indeed is one of the most isolated and best defined within the whole range 

 of the Coleoptera, its unique characters of -uing and foot being of themselves 

 sufficient to remove it from every other department. Nor are its oral organs 

 less remarkable, theii* singularly developed paraglossse and palpi displaying modi- 

 fications of structm'e exceedingly anomalous. It is under the appellation of 

 Trlchopteryx (proposed by Kirby, for the SilpJia minutissima of Marsham, in 

 1828*, and first defined, by Stephens, in 1830) that the present genus is usually 

 recognised. That title however hai-ing been preoccupied in the Lepidoptera, by 

 Hubner, in 1816, it is clear that (whether afterwards retained or not) it cannot 

 strictly be employed in another Order ; and hence it was that Motsehulsky in 1848 

 published the name of Acratnchis instead, — which ought therefore, in accordance 

 with the laws of priority, to be received. "When their microscopic dunensions are 

 considered, the species of Acratrichis may be regarded as amongst the most active 



* Vide Int. to Ent. iii. -il, — note. 



P 2 



