200 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



clavam magnam laxam elongatara perfoliatam triarticulatam efficientibus (nono subquadrato, 

 decimo subquadrato-transverso, ultimo subovato basi truncato). Labrum transversum, antice 

 integrum parce ciliatum. Mandibula valida;, apice acutse bifida;, intus late emarginatse et mem- 

 brana tenuissima auctje. Maxilla bilobse : lobo extemo magno, apice dilatato valdc j)ubcscenti : 

 interno breviore minuto angusto, apice pubcscenti-pencillato. Palpi maxillares articulo primo 

 brevi flexuoso, secundo et tertio longioribus crassis subfequalibus, ultimo elongate subovato apice 

 oblique tnincato : labiates articulo primo minuto, secundo paulo longiore subclavato, ultimo 

 eiongato subfusiformi apice recte truncato. Mentum amplum subquaJi'atum, apice integrum et 

 Icviter rotundatum. Ligula ampla lata membranacea, apice leviter emarginata pubescens ciliata. 

 Pedes valde cursorii, graciles pilosi : tibiis anticis subrectis apice leviter dilatatis, posterioribus 

 rectis extus sctosis et (in specie Madercnsi saltcni) ad apicem ipsura pectinato-spinulosis : tarsis 

 4-articulatis [anticis in maribus 3-articulatis, articulo primo latiore), posteriuribus filiformibus ; 

 omnibus in utroque sexu articulo primo eiongato (in anterioribus ultimi longitudine sed in posticis 

 ultimo multo longiore), secundo minore, tertio paulo breviore, ultimo subclavato unguiculis sim- 

 plicibus munito. 



The exceedingly elegant insect wliicli represents the present genus in Madeu'a 

 (lilTcrs so ^^idely from every other member of the Coleoptera with which we are 

 here concerned, that even its specific characters would more than suffice to identify 

 it. Nevertheless, it may be desu-ablc to state that the main featiu-es Avhich eom- 

 Ijiuc in separating Litargus from the rest of the typical Mycetophagidcc are, its 

 entire eyes (which arc not emarginated anteriorly, as is the case vrith those of 

 Mycetoj)h((gus and TrijjJiyllus), the triarticulated club of its antenna?, and its 

 membranous and anteriorly-subemai-giaated ligida. It is the only normal genus 

 of the Mycetophagidce (the discovery of TyphcBa being due to M. Eousset) which I 

 have myself detected in these islands, — the construction of its tarsi, which are 

 com])osed of three joints only in the anterior male pau-, the remainder being 

 quacb'iarticulate, entirely according with the family diagnosis as rigidly defined. 

 The group was established by Erichson in 1818, to embrace, amongst other species 

 (extra-European), the Mycetophagus bifasciatus of Eabricius, an insect by no means 

 uncommon in Germany and France, and with which in all its piu-cly structm'al 

 details the one now under consideration strictly coincides. In external /rtc/^s how- 

 ever there are a few particulars m Avliich it recedes fi'om it, such as, for instance, 

 the basal angles of its pronotum not being produced, and its elj'tra being punctate- 

 striatecl, as well as in the extreme apex of its four hinder tibiae being fringed with 

 minute spines ; — but these are characters Avhich can scarcely be looked upon as 

 of generic signification, and hence I have no hesitation in regarding it as a true 

 Zitargiis. The Litargi seem to be more peculiar to Mediterranean than to northern 

 latitudes ; and I have been informed by M. Leon Fairmaire, of Paris, that he has 

 lately received two undescribed forms, somewhat allied to the L. picliis, from Sicily 

 and Algeria. 



■T)^ 



159. Litargns pictus, Jfolt. (Tab. IV. fii,'. 5.) 

 L. cllipticus niger vel nigro-piceus subnitidus pubescens, prothorace brevi trausverso, lateribus. 



