122 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Pedes contractiles : tibiis anticis atl marginem externum minutissitue spinulosis : tarsis articulo 

 quarto minutissimo, anticis articulis tribus dilatatis. 



Of the present genus but a single species has been hitherto discovered, namely 

 the Luria Dulcaynarce of Scopoli, — for the male of which (supposed erroneously to 

 be distinct from the female) the group was originally proposed. It is on account 

 of the structure of its antennae that the mistake as regards the sexes appears to 

 have arisen, — those of the male being the longest, and having their clul) com- 

 posed of four loosely-attached and (with the exception of the apical one) internally- 

 produced joints, whereas in tlie female it is subsoHd and merely triarticulate. 

 Such characters as these are of cotirse sufficient, evjen of themselves, to separate 

 Tria from the allied forms ; and we need only therefore add that it would seem, 

 externally, to constitute somewhat of a connecting link between Nitidula and 

 3Ieligethes, its partially pale surface and submargined prothorax leading us very 

 gradually from the variegated and flattened bodies of the former to the darker 

 and convexer ones of the latter, — to which in its flower-infesting habits however it 

 is the more nearly allied. 



100. Pria Dulcamarae. 



P. oblonga iiifuscato-ferruginea, regione scutellari, pectore, abdomine antennarumque clava plus 



minusve nigrescentibus, antennarum basi pedibusque diluto-testaceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. f-1. 



Laria Duleamarce, Scop. £nt. Cam. 22 (1763). 



NitiduU Dulcamara, III. Kaf. Preus. 387 (1798). 



Silpha truncatella, Mshni, Ent. Brit. i. 123 (1802). 



Pria trimcatella et MeUgethcs DulcamarcB, Steph. ///. Brit. Ent. iii. 45 et 50 (1830). 



DulcamarcB, Stiu'in, Deutsch. Fna, xv. 127 (1814). 



Habitat in tloribus jMadcra;, tempore vcmali et sestivo, non infrequens : ab hortis Funchalensibus fere 

 ad summos montes ascendit, sed in locis intermediis (e. g. castanetis Sanctae Annse) pi-secipue 

 abundat. 



P. oblong, slightly convex, brownish-ferruginous, or testaceous-brown, minutely punctulated and 

 pubescent. Prothoraa: subquadrate. The region of the scutellum, the breast, the abdomen, and 

 the antenna at apex more or less dark, or nigrescent. The last at base, and the legs diluted- 

 testaceous. 



A \videly distributed insect over Europe, but apparently somewhat scarce in 

 Madeira ; — occiu'ring however sparingly in most pai-ts of the island, and at nearly 

 all elevations. I have taken it from out of flowers in the gardens aroimd Fimchal, 

 in INIay, — especially in that of the Rev. R. T. Lowe at the Levada ; as also in the 

 Chestnut-woods of Santa Anna, more abimdantly, in Jime ; and in the upland 

 region of the Cruzinhas (nearly 5000 feet above the sea), dui-ing July. 



