INSECTA MADERENSIA. 171 



hinder angles is very obscurely crenulated (the crenulations being only perceptible beneath a 

 high magnifying power). Elytra usually a little paler than the rest of the surface, and punc- 

 tured all over,— the punctures being rather smaller than those on the head and prothorax, and 

 with no tendency to be disposed in strise. 



Out of the many examples of Cryptoj)lwgus whicli I have hitherto captured in 

 Madeira, I have not heen able to satisfy myself that more than a single species is 

 indicated, — although in some respects there is certainly a slight diversity (espe- 

 ciaUy as regards the length of the prothorax) in the external outline of a few of 

 them. Having carefully however examined the whole of my specimens beneath 

 the microscope, I find that the shape and relative proportions of their lateral den- 

 ticulations offer no essential differences throughout (even though they may occa- 

 sionally be rather largely developed) ; and hence I have not ventured to draw 

 lines of demarcation between consecutive shades of form, which, even if not alto- 

 gether imaginary, are at any rate so nearly coincident as to be with difficulty 

 separable, — and that moreover in a genus which I cannot but believe has been 

 already too much subjected to a like abuse. Our present insect is, in its normal 

 state, unquestionably referable to the C. affinis of Sturm,— a species very closely 

 allied to the C. scauicus and cellaris, though differing in being a little more 

 strongly punctm-ed, and in its (robuster) central prothoracic tooth having a 

 tendency to be more perceptibly recurved (or backwardly directed) at its apex. 

 As ali-eady stated, it is exceedingly varied in its habits, occurring at nearly all 

 elevations, from the houses and granaries of Funchal (where it aboimds amongst 

 Indian corn, and other stores) up to the sylvan districts of intermediate altitudes, 

 — in which it is found xmder the loose bark of trees, and decaying logs of wood, 

 or even stones. "With such a power of adaptation, it is not surprising that it 

 should display some slight distinctive modifications according to the circimi- 

 stances of its position ; and in fact we should « ^jr«ori expect that such would 

 actually be the case. Although existing in such profusion at times in Eunchal as 

 to have the appearance of having been imported, yet any doubt as to its claims to 

 be truly indigenous are at once set at rest by the fact that I have taken it in 

 almost equal numbers in distant spots, far removed from any traces of habitations. 

 Thus, I have captured it, during May, at the edges of the Levada of the Eibeiro 

 Frio ; at the Lombo dos Pecegueiros, in July (where I have observed it crawling 

 rapidly up the outer canvass of my tent, towards the dusk of the evening) ; and 

 at the Feijaa de C6rte, in August,— by brushing the rank vegetation beneath the 

 gigantic chestnut-trees for which that remote region is so celebrated. 



Genus 58. DIPHYLLUS. 



Eedtenbacher, F/ia Austr. 188 (1849). 



Corpus minusculum, oblongo-ovatum, subconvexum : prolhurace vix simphci (adlatera minute sub- 

 crenulato) et striis duabus elevatis utriuque instructo: alls amphs. Antenna breves clavatte, 



z 2 



