204 IXSECTA MADERENSIA. 



161. Attagenus megatoma. 



A. ovalis piceo-niger, supra nigro-, iulra subcinereo-flavescenti-pubescens, auteiinarum basi pcdibus- 



que rufo-ferrugineis. 



Mas, antennanim articulo ultimo elongato subcylindrico. 



Long. Corp. lin. lf-2. 



Dermestes megatoma. Fab. Ent. Syst. v. Suppl. 71 (1798). 



, Dufts. Fna Austr. iii. 40 (1825). 



Attafjeiius megatoma, Sturm, Deutsch. Fna, xix. 76. tab. 355. fig. c (1847). 

 , Ericii. .VaC. der Ins. Deutsch. iii. 441 (1848). 



Habitat in domibus Madenc, rarissimus : duo specimina a Doin. Heinecken olim capta amicissiiue 

 communicavit Rev*""' Dom. Lowe. 



A. short, oval, slightly shining, piceous-black, very closely and minutely punctulated all over (less 

 distinctly so however than the D. vulpinus), and clothed (above) with a black pubescence. Body 

 beneath more or less densely beset with a somewhat ashy-yellow pubescence. Antenna and legs 

 rufo-f(M'rugiuous ; the former with their club somewhat darker. 



Two specimens only of this insect have hitherto conic beneath my notice, — 

 which were captured many years ago (probably in Funchal) l>y the late Dr. Hei- 

 necken, from whose collection they were presented to me by the Rev. R. T. Lowe. 

 Being extremely old, and in a somewhat imperfect state, they are not very satis- 

 factory subjects for examination : nevertheless I have no doubt but that they are 

 correctly referred to the A. megatoma of European cabinets, — from Silesian 

 examples of which in my jjossession they do not appear at all to differ, unless 

 indeed it be that their blackness is slightly less intense (the result perchance of 

 immatimty, — and answering to the var. /3. of Duftschmidt's Fauna Auslriaca), 

 and that their ^irothorax is perhaps just perceptil)ly shorter than is there the case. 

 Like most of the Dermestklw, it is a species liable to transmission -^-ith mer- 

 chandise ; so that it has consequently obtained for itself a wdde geograjihical 

 range, — being recorded by Erichson from Syria, North America, and the West 

 Indian Islands*. 



Genus 72. ANTHRENUS. 



GKjoflroy, Hist, ties Ins. i. 113 (17G1). 



Corpus parvum, fere orbiculatum (subtus valde coiivexum), squamis dcciduis variegatum : capite parvo 

 inflcxo, ad prosternuni applicando, et occUo frontali instructo : prothorace posticc lato clytris arete 



* In Dejean's Catalogue there is an insect quoted as coming li-oiu Jhuleira, mider the name of Noso- 

 ilendron Maderense, Faldermami, and given as a synonym of the Attagcniis ohtusus of Gylleuhal. I 

 possess specimens of the true A. ohttisus (Schonlierr) from Algeria, which are altogether distinct from the 

 present species; and since I have no reason to believe that any Attageniis, except the megatoma, has 

 liitherto occurreil in JNIadeira, I should be iucliucd to suspect that some mistake has arisen in either the 

 identification or the locality of Faldermann's insect. 



