178 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



hitherto described. It is one of the rarest of the Madeu'an insects, the only spot 

 in which I have hitherto observed it being in the district of the Ribeiro Frio, 

 where, dm-ing May and August of 1850, I captm'ed five specimens, l)y brushing 

 the rank grass at the edges of the Levada. 



Fam. 15. LATHEIDIAD^. 



Genus 61. CHOLOVOCERA. (Taj!. X. fig. 1.) 



Motschulsky, Bull, de Moscou, 177 (1838). 



Corpus minutum, ellipticum vel rotundato-ellipticum, politum : capite magno lato, oculis ex lentibus 

 paucis compositis : pruthorace transverse, postice lato : scutellu distincto triangular! : alis obsoletis. 

 Antenna (X. 1 a) vakle clavata;, capitis prothoracisque vix longitudiue, S-articulatse, articulis 

 primo et secundo (illo pnecipue) longiusculis robustis, inde ad septimum latitudine a>qualibus 

 (tertio in tjqjicis elongate, sed in specie Maderensi longiusculo tantum ; quarto ad septimum 

 minutis), ultimo maximo apice latissimo, sccuriformi. Labrum, palpos labiales, mentwn ligu- 

 lamqiic Laud examinare potui. Mandibula (X. 1 b) validae acuta;, mox infra apiccm dente valido 

 instructs, margine interno arcuato et membrana aucto. Maxilla (X. 1 c) vix bilobae : lobo 

 extemo magno lato recto, apice setoso leviter ineurvo ; interno minutissimo, fere obsoleto, 

 uncinato. Palpi maxillares artieulo primo parvo, secundo et tertio majoribus incrassatis (hoc 

 breviore), ultimo elongate subfusiformi-ovato basi truncate. Pedes vix rebusti : femoribus leviter 

 clavatis : tarsis (X. 1 d) 3-articulatis simplieibus, artieulo secundo prime paule breviore, xdtimo 

 elongate unyuiculis simplieibus munite. 



There is no genus the natiu-al position of Avhich has been hitherto more doubted 

 than Cholovocera. Nevertheless, owdng partly perhaps to the extreme rarity of the 

 few species which compose it, scarcely any critical remarks have ever been offered 

 as to its affinities ; and, consequently, in the different European Catalogues Avhich 

 have recently lieen published, it has been made, successively, to occupy positions 

 altogether remote from each other, — until at last it has been entii-ely set aside, as 

 one of the forms of almost impossible location. Upon the whole, however, it has 

 been more often conceded to the Erotrjlidce than to any other diAdsion ; though it 

 is difficult to understand why, since it is neither pseudotetramerous, nor has it 

 the terminal joint of its palpi secm-iform. The apical articulation of its antenncB 

 is securiform, it is true, — but the ErotyUda' have nothmg in common with this ; 

 and we must clearly look for some other section therefore to receive it. Now the 

 main u-rcgularitics of Cholovocera appear to lie in the reduced number of the 

 joints of its antenna?, in its triarticulated, yet simple feet, and in the almost 

 evanescent inner lobe of its maxillae. And there is but one family in the Cole- 

 optera, so far as I am aware, in which these tlu-ee characteristics constitute, in 

 conjunction, the chief distinguishing feature, — namely the Lathridiadcc. Thus, 

 for instance, in Holoparamcctis the tarsi are simple and triarticulatc, the antennal 

 joints vary from nine to eleven, the inner maxillary lobe is excessively small, the 



