INSECTA MADERENSIA. 181 



labiales articulo priino parvo, secundo maximo crasso subgloboso, ultimo minore subconico. 

 Mentum amplum, antice angustatum, summo apice (nisi fallor) emarginato. Ligula antice 

 rotundata et lueuibrana tenuissima (ad apicem truncata ciliata) aucta. Pedes subgraciles : tarsis 

 3-articulatis, articulo secundo primo paulo breviore, ultimo elongato. 



Soloparamecus {;=Calijptohium, Villa, Cat. Col. Eur. dupl. a.d. 1833) may be at 

 once distinguished from Cortlcaria and LatlirkUus by the biai'ticulated club of its 

 antennae; by its freedom from wings, by its apically bidentate mandibles, and by 

 its perceptibly bilobed maxillae. The numerical variations also in the joints of its 

 antennae are exceedingly remarkable, and present an anomaly which I am not 

 aware that wc find, to the same extent, in any other genus of the Coleoptera. 

 This peculiarity of structure has been ably discussed by Mr. Westwood in a very 

 interesting paper, read before the Entomological Society of London in May 1845, 

 and published in the fourth volvime of their Transactions. After tracing back the 

 generic synonymy to its source, and pointing out the confusion which had arisen 

 in three separate diagnoses (put forth, successively, by Mr. Curtis, himself, and 

 Dr. Aub(^), in which different species had been accidentally selected as the type, 

 he thus sums up the result of his inquiry, from which, I think (after a careful 

 consideration of the several forms in question, externally and in detail), it is im- 

 possible to dissent : — " We have therefore a genus in which the characters assigned 

 to it by three different writers entirely agree, except that Mr. Curtis describes the 

 antennae as 9-jointed, Dr. Aube as 11-jointed, and myself as 10-jointed. On 

 examining these insects, and comparing them with Dr. Aube's figui-es, it is im- 

 possible to arrive at any other conclusion than that they belong to one and the 

 same genus, and that the variation in the number of the joints of the antennae is 

 either a specific or a sexual character, a circumstance in itself of so unusual occur- 

 rence in the Clavicorn Coleoptera, that I have considered it weU worthy of being 

 brought l)efore the notice of the Society." Making use however of these varia- 

 tions in the joints of the antennae for sectional purposes, which at any rate we are 

 entitled to do, we find that the European representatives of the group arrange 

 themselves imder three heads, — the first of which embraces the H. caularum, Aub^ 

 (=:Pa)ikoucJdi, Guerin), and the S. niger, Aub6, characterized by their 11-jointed 

 antennae ; the second the H. Kimzei, Aube, in which the antennae are but 10-arti- 

 culate ; and the third the 11. singular Is, Beck. {=^depressus, Curtis, = Villas, Aub6), 

 which has the antennae composed of nine joints only. 



Regarding the affinities of this genus various opinions have been entertained. 

 Mr. Curtis imagines that, in conjunction with Eutheia, it may very likely consti- 

 tute a passage between the LathridiadcB and the Scydmcenidce. Nevertheless, of 

 its certain connexion with at all events the former there can, I think, be no 

 reasonable doubt, its trimerous feet, and the largely develoj)ed second articulation 

 of both its labial and maxillary palpi, apart from its general habits and aspect, 

 bespeaking a very close relationship with Cortlcaria and Lathridius. Its palpi 

 indeed correspond almost precisely with those of Atomaria and Ephistenius, 



