INSECTA MADERENSIA. 231 



qua Aprili exeunte a.d. 1848 in arenosis prope oppidum sitis primus detexi ; sed per oram 

 Funchalensem maritimam, prsesertim in cloacis circa stabula suilla, nuper collegerunt DD. 

 Rousset et Heer. 



P. somewhat cylindric-ovate, and convex, being slightly narrowed in front, black or piceous-black 

 (varying into more or less of a rufescent or ferruginous hue), and shining: with the clypeus 

 (which has no indication of tubercles, but is a little recurved at the edges, and emarginated at its 

 apex) rufescent, and very rugosely granulated, anteriorly, but almost smooth behind. Prothorax 

 very convex, broader behind than before ; beset with exceedingly large, deep, and remote punc- 

 tures ; with a deep transverse groove on either side, towards the anterior angles, and a second, 

 usually obscurer one, behind it ; and with a distinct, though vei-y abbreviated, longitudinal 

 channel on the hinder disk. Elytra usually more picescent than the head and prothorax ; 

 narrowed at the base and widest behind the middle; deeply crenate- (or almost punctate-) 

 striated ; with the interstices impunetate and rather convex, — the suture being more flattened, 

 and sometimes (together with the apical portion of the elytra) very distinctly rufescent. Legs 

 and antenna rufo-piceous ; the latter with their club ferruginous. 



Readily distinguished by its ovate, anteriorly-acuminated form, more or less 

 picescent elytra, and by the enormous and very deep punctures of its prothorax. 

 It is a tolerably common insect, in certain positions, both in Madeira and Porto 

 Santo. It was in the latter island that I first, myself, discovered it ; where, at 

 the end of April 1848, it occxirred in great profusion, beneath stones in sandy 

 spots, in the immediate vicinity of the Cidade. It appeared to be more especiaUy 

 active during the evenings, biirrowing into the loose soil with considerable dex- 

 terity. In Madeira it seems to be principally confined to the southern shore, and to 

 the neighbourhood of Funchal, — where it has been captured abundantly both by 

 M. Rousset and Professor Heer, amongst animal and vegetable rejectamenta, on 

 the sea-beach. It is a species almost peciiliar to Mediterranean latitudes, being 

 recorded in the south of France and in Algeria ; and I possess specimens from 

 Spain, collected by Professor Heer near Seville. 



182. Psammodius caesus. 

 P. angusto-subcylindricus nitidus niger, prothorace subquadrato-transverso profunde sed remote 



punctato, utrinque transverso-sulcato, elytris crenato-striatis, interstitiis minus convexis, pedibus 



rufo-piceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. l^-lf • 



Scarabteus ccesus, Pauz. Fna Germ. 85. 2 (1796). 

 Aphodius ccesus, Fab. St/st. Elew. i. 82 (1801). 



, Heer, Fna Col. Meh. i. 530 (1841). 



Psammodius cmsus, Erich. Nat. der Ins. Beutsch. iii. 913 (1848). 



Habitat Maderam, rarior : in boreali, baud procul a Sancta Anna, atque etiam in urbe ipsa Funcha- 

 lensi egomet parce deprehensi ; necnon per oram maritimam australem cl. Dom. Heer detexit. 



P. cylindrical and very narrow, being of almost equal breadth throughout, black, and shining (espe- 



