126 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



the M. tristis, Avith which it is usually found in comjiany ; nevertheless, the j^oints 

 just enumerated, in conjunction with its slightly larger size, its comparatively 

 broader and convexer form, its somewhat less pubescent el)i;ra, and the more 

 rounded and finely serrated external edge of its fore-tibise, ^ill, on examination, 

 readily separate it from that insect. It is abundant throughout Madeira, at nearly 

 all altitvules below about iOOO feet, occurring on flowers, for the most part in com- 

 pany ■with the M. tristis, during the spring and early summer months. In the 

 neighbourhood of Funchal, in the Ribeiro de Santa Luzia, in the north of the 

 island (at Santa Anna), and in the district of the Ribeiro Frio I have observed it 

 in considerable profusion. 



104. MeUgethes varicollis, WoU. 



M. subrotundato-oblongus convexus Beneo-viridis subcinereo-pubescens et profundius punctulatus, 

 antennis pedibusque ferrugineis, tibiis anticis ante medium dilatatis, extus subtiliter serratis. 

 Var. /3. (an sexualis distinctio ?) prothoracis lateribus, anteunis pedibusque testaceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 1^-1 j. 



Habitat Maderam sylvaticam, in floribus, — a meipso ad Ribeiro Frio d. 22 Mai. a.d. 1850 repertus. 



M. large and robust, roundish-oblong, convex, brassy-green, rather coarsely punctulated (especially 

 on the elytra), and more or less clothed with a cinereous pubescence, — which has sometimes a 

 yellowish tinge. ProtJiorax wider and more transverse than in any of the other species. 

 Antenna and ler/s brownish-ferruginous : the latter with their fore-tibite considerably dilated a 

 httle before the middle, and the outer edge finely serrated along its entire length, — the teeth 

 gradually diminishing in size from the apex. 

 Vai-. /3. with the lateral margins of the prothorax broadly testaceous ; antennse and legs paler than 

 in the ordinary state, being testaceous. 



An exceedingly well-marked and truly indigenous species. It may be at once 

 recognised from the remainder of the genus here described by its brassy-green 

 surface, more distinctly pimctulated elytra, and, — in the case of the variety (a 

 state which, if indeed it be not a sexual modification, of which I am by no means 

 certain, it seems constantly liable to assume), — by the broadly pale margins of its 

 prothorax. In its general outline, and in the structure of its fore-tibiae, it 

 approaclies the M. picipes ; but the above characters, independently of its larger 

 size and its much paler limbs, will immediately distinguish it from that insect. 

 It is, apparently, the rarest of the INIadeii-an members of the group, or at any rate 

 the m.ost local ; and would seem to be confined to sylvan spots of intermediate 

 altitudes. The only occasion on wliich I have liitherto observed it was on the 

 22nd of May 1850, at the Ribeiro Frio, — where both varieties were tolerably 

 abundant, in flowers, at the edges of the Levada. Its season is probably of short 

 duration, since later in the summer I searched for it, in exactly the same position 

 and under the same circumstances, in vain. 



