251 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Habitat in locis editioribus Maderae, tempore sestivo, hinc inde vulgare : in summo ipso monte 

 Ruivenso (GIOC s. m.), flores Erica cinerea (una cum Pecteropo Maderensi) circumvolans, necnon 

 in ascensu montis a Feijaa de Corte Augusto ineunte a.d. 1850 copiosissime coUegi. 



M. elongate and robust, deep black (rarely with a piceous tinge), and beset (although not very densely) 

 with a short, nearly decumbent and somewhat cinereous pile. Head and prothorax rugulose and 

 subpunctate : the former tiattencd : the latter convex, and narrowed in front. Elytra with the 

 suture raised, and also with three costse down the disk of each, — which are abbre\iated posteriorly, 

 and the outer one of which is usually nearly obsolete ; the interstices deeply, very closely and 

 coarsely punctured (the punctures being vei-y large, but with only a slight tendency to be disposed 

 in rows). Antenna at base, and the tarsi just perceptibly paler than the rest of the surface. 

 Male a little smaller than the female, and with the antennae distinctly longer, — though not so long 

 as those of (both sexes of) the M. Artemisia, 



Readily known from the follo^\dng species by its larger and more robust form, 

 and by its more intensely black bue. It is also far less pubescent, its forehead is 

 flatter, and its antennae (in. both sexes ; and therefore, a fortiori, in the female) 

 are proportionably shorter than those of that insect. It is, apparently, peculiar to 

 the mountains ; and, so far as I have hitherto observed, to Madeira proper, — 

 whore it occtu's, throughout the summer months, in flowers, from an altitude 

 of about 3000 feet to the summits of the loftiest peaks. I fii-st detected it, 

 August 2nd, 1850, on the ascent of the Pico Ruivo from the Curral das Freiras, 

 where it was extremely abundant, — especially on a precipitous projecting buttress, 

 known as the Lombo das Portaes, overlooking the Feijaa de C6rte : and during 

 my encampment on the Pico Ruivo itself (GlOO feet above the sea), I captured it 

 in almost equal profusion (La company with the Tecteropits Maderenms) out of 

 the flowers of Erica cinerea, — or else, on the wing, in thcu' immediate vicinity. 



195. Melyi'osoma Ai-temisiae, Woll (Tab. V. fig. 2.) 

 M. gracile infuscato-nigrum et pilis subolivaceis longissimis mollibus suberectis vestitum, capite pro- 

 thoraceque leviter subruguloso-subpunctatis, elytro singulo costis tribus longitudinalitcr instruct©, 

 interstitiis profunde, crebre et rugose (sed vix seriatim) punctatis, antennarum basi, tibiis tarsisque 

 fuscescentibus, antennis in utroque sexu elongatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 1-lj. 



Habitat iusulas Desertas, restate novft sat frequens : in Desert^ Grandi rarius occurrit ; sed in Boreali 

 abundat, qua inter plantas Artemisia argentea, Herit., fere per totam insulam nascentes, Junio 

 ineunte a.d. 1850, plurima speciuiina depi'ehensi. 



M. smaller, slenderer, and rather less e\])andcd posteriorly than the M. oceanicum, also of a less 

 intensely black hue (being more infuscated or piccscent), and densely beset with an exceedingly 

 long, silken, nearly erect, and yellowish cinereous (or somewhat olivaceous) pile, — which often 

 imparts to the surface an obscure subseneous tinge. Head and prothorax less distinctly sculj)- 

 tured than in the last species (being only slightly rugulose, and with veiy faint indications of 

 pimctures) : the former rather broader in proportion than that of the M. oceanicum, and a little 



