146 IN SECT A MADE REN SI A. 



The extraordinary little insect for wliicli the present genixs was established by 

 Mr. Westwood, is perhaps one of the most remarkable as yet detected within the 

 whole range of the Coleoj)tera, its total freedom, apparently, from eyes, in con- 

 junction with the singular numerical variation of its tarsal joints, presenting 

 anomalies of a very peculiar kind. Mr. Westwood has so ably discussed its affi- 

 nities, that I will not enter into them afresh, but prefer gi^'ing the result of his 

 conclusions on the subject in his owa words. " This is altogether," says he, " one 

 of the most anomalous genera hitherto described amongst Coleopterous insects. 

 At fu'st sight, it possesses so strong a resemblance to the Heteromerous genus 

 Cossi/plms, that it was for a time regarded as merely a minute species of that 

 genus, — for the outline of the head and pronotum are nearly continuous, so that 

 it was not until a more careful examination was made that the ordinary exposed 

 condition of the head, and its division from the prothorax, was observed. The 

 tarsi arc not, however, heteromerous*. The structure of the anteunai, moreover, 

 at once removes this genus from the whole of the Seteromera, — since they are 

 ellwwed at the extremity of the large first joint, and have a nearly solid 2-jointed 

 terminal club. It is, I apprehend, amongst the genera originally placed by La- 

 treille amongst the Xylophaga (but separated therefrom by MacLeay, by whom 

 they were introduced amongst the Necrophaga) that we must look for the true 

 relations of this insect, some of which are already known to exhibit various nume- 

 rical peculiarities in respect to the joints of theu* tarsi, often varying in the sexes 

 in this respect. Biphyllns, as the name implies, has a 2-jointed clava to the 

 antennae, and some of the species of Cerylon have similarly polished bodies. Bi- 

 toma has also a biarticulate club to the antennae, as well as a carinated pronotum 

 and elytra. This last-named genus, in fact, notwithstanding the various very 

 striking points of disagreement mth Cossyphodes, may perhaps be regarded as 

 most nearly allied to it of any known genus ; indeed the parts of the mouth of 

 Bitoma, as figured by Mr. Ciu-tis, present a strong general conformity with those 

 of Cossyphodes." 



121. Cossyphodes Wollastonii. (Tab. III. fig. 3.) 



C. latus subparallelo-oblongus valde dcpressus fcrrugineus Isevis subnitidus, antennis pedibusque 



concoloribus. 



Long. Corp. lin. 1?. 



Cossyphodes Wollastonii, Westn'. Trans. Ent. Soc. of Land. {I^ew Series) i. 170 (1851). 



Habitat in Mader^ australi propc urbem Funchalensem, rarissimus : ad Praya Formoza exemplar 

 unicum sub lapide, Maio cxeunte .\.d. 1848, primus inveni; sed nidos (Ecophthora pusilla colere 



* Strictly speaking, the tarsi are heteromerous, — that is to say, they do not consist of the same num- 

 ber of articulations in all the legs : but in the true Heteromera the hinder feet alone are -l-jointed, — 

 whereas in the genus before us the four posterior tarsi are quadriartieulate, the front pair only being 

 pentamerous. 



