INSECTA MADERENSIA. 139 



which occasionally however become rather obscure ; deeply seriate-punctatCj and much wrinkled 

 transversely ; the suture and alternate interstices most obscurely raised, — sometimes but just 

 perceptibly so. Antenna and legs of the same colour as those of the last species. 



Male, with the basal joint of all the tarsi (though especially perhaps of the posterior ones) produced 

 beneath into a very short and rounded lobe, — which however, from being terminated by an un- 

 usually distinct tuft of convergent pile, has the appearance under an insufficient magnifying 

 power of being longer and more acute than it really is. 



Female, with the tarsi simple. 



The present species, the T. rotmidahis and the T. Loicei are the most tlistinctly 

 spotted of the group, the patches on each of them occasionally becoming obscure 

 but never being altogether absent. The T. Lauri is at once distinguished from 

 the T. Lowei by its comparatively gigantic bulk and its altogether different form 

 (especially of the prothorax) ; whilst from the T. rotundatus its more lengthened, 

 ovate outline, and elongated, posteriorly narrowed prothorax, in conjunction with 

 its very rugosely punctured and somewhat more brightly maculated elytra, will 

 equally remove it. Apart from which, its male sex may be recognised, even prima 

 facie, from the rest of the genus by the sjiort rounded lobe into which the basal 

 joint of all its tarsi is produced. The females are, in every respect with the 

 exception of the feet, similar to the males. It is unquestionably the most abun- 

 dant of the Madeiran Tarphii; and, in a certain sense, it is a kind of central 

 modification from which most of the others would appear as it were to radiate. 

 It is common in all the damp ravines and on the densely wooded mountain-slopes 

 of intermediate and rather lofty elevations. In the districts of the E-ibeiro Prio, 

 the Cruzinhas, and the Fanal I have taken it in the greatest profusion ; and, 

 during June, sparingly, in even the chestnut-woods of Sao Viucente, — the lowest 

 position (about 1300 feet above the sea) at which, so far as I am aware, any 

 member of the genus has hitherto been observed. 



113. Tarphius compactus, Woll 

 T. subquadrato-ovatus breviusculus compactus piceus, prothorace subquadrato postice minus angus- 



tato, granulis crebris obtusissimis obsito, elytris concoloribus latiusculis ragose seriato-punctatis, 



pone medium vix nodosis, tarsis in iitroque sexu simplicibus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. I5— 1^. 



Habitat Maderam excelsam sylvaticam, sestate minus frequens. 



T. a little larger than the T. Lauri, and somewhat more quadrate and compact, dull piceous, generally 

 much incrusted with dirty mud-like scales, and but very slightly shining. Head and jjrothorax 

 beset with very close and exceedingly obtuse granules : the latter not channeled (or very ob- 

 scurely so), somewhat square, — the sides being regularly, though only slightly, rounded, and the 

 front edge a little raised along the central emargination. Elytra concolorous, rather wide and 

 straight at the shoulders, and rounded behind ; seriate-punctate, and wrinkled transversely ; the 



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