154 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Antenna breviusculae (capitis prothoracisque vix longitudine), artieulo primo robusto, secimdo 

 minuto, reliquis usque ad apicem sensim crassioribus (rarius subclavatis), Labrum transverso- 

 quadratunij antice integrum et valde ciliatum. Mandihulce magase valida; cornese porrectje, basi 

 lata", apice fortiter bidentatse. Maxilla lubo sincjulo elongato valde ciliato ad apicem obtuso 

 instructse [intemo obsoleto). Palpi artieulo ultimo elougato, subfusiformi-truncato. Mentum 

 transversum, apice late emarginatum. Ligula ampla cornea integra, antice pilosa. Pedes validi : 

 tibiis anticis apicem %Trsus lev'itcr dilatatis, calcari intemo maximo robusto unciformi (externo 

 reliquis fcquali, miuuto) : larsis artieulo primo minutissimo, ultimo elongato subclavato. 



The elongated and more or less flattened bodies of the Trogositce, in conjunction 

 with thcu- obsolete inner maxillary lobe, and the extraordinary enlarg-emcut of 

 one of then' two front til)ial s^jiu's, as compared with the other, will be sufficient 

 whereby to distinguish them from theii" immediate allies. In the construction of 

 theu" mentum, and in the minute basal joint of theu* tarsi, as well as in the small- 

 ness of the second articulation of their antennae, they approach the Lcemophloei 

 and other t}q>ical members of the Cuciijidce, — Avith many of which in habits, 

 likewise, they essentially coincide. Hence, I have preferred the present position 

 for them to placing them amongst the Nitidididce, with which they are now 

 usually associated, — deeming the above peculiarities of greater importance than 

 even the non-development of the inner lobe of their maxillae ; and especially so since 

 several of the Ciicicjidce have that lobe so far reduced in size as to indicate, even 

 in this respect, a no very distant relation vdih Trogosifa. "N^'ere its habits indeed 

 alone to be taken into account, the present genus might be supposed to have some 

 affinity with Teuehno and other representatives of the Seteromera ; but its penta- 

 merous feet, and the total absence of an internal emargination to its mandibles, 

 apart from other points no less evident, will at once remove it m toto from the 

 whole of those groups. 



§ I. Prothorax subcordatus, angulis ipsis postiois exstantihus : antenna apicem versus sensim incrassata. 



125. Trogosita mauritanica. 

 T. depressa picea subniticTa, elytris post medium leviter dilatatis, subpunctato-striatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 4. 



Tenebrio mauritanicus, Liun. Syst. Nat. ii. G74 (17C7). 

 Trogossita mauritanica, Qi]i\.Ent. ii. 19. 6. pi. 1. tig. 2 o, i (1790). 

 Trogosita carahoides, Fab. Ent. Syst. i. 115 (1792). 



mauritanica, GyU. Ins. Suec. i. 72 (1808). 



, Erich. JVat. der Ins. Deutsch. iii. 243 (1848). 



Habitat in grauariis douiibusque Maderje, prsesertim circa Funcbal, vulgaris : interdum in ipsa urbe 

 (mercatorum rcpositoriis) abundat, e.x alienis certe introducta. 



T. elongated, much depressed, dark piceous, and slightly sinning. Head and prothorax deeply 

 punctured : the latter somewhat short aud cordate (being broad in front and narrowed behind), 



