256 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Maxilla bilobse, lobis submcmbranaceis, apice pubescentibus ; extemo latiusculo ; inferno bre- 

 viore angustiore. Palpi vakle clavati ; maxillares articulo primo parvo, secundo elongate, tertio 

 breviore subflexuoso, ultimo maximo dilatato securiforini ; luhiales articulo primo parvo, secundo 

 elongato, ultimo maximo dilatato triangulari-securiformi. Mentuin pan'um subquadratum, 

 antice membranaceum. Liyula elongata membranacea, valde pilosa bifida. Pedes elongati 

 robusti hirsutissimi : tarsis articulis quatuor baseos subtus oblique productis laciniisque spon- 

 gioso-submembranaceis pilosissimis (modo, ut in specie nostra) bifidis (modo integris) auctis 

 (primo brevi ad basin recondite superne vix obsen'ando, secundo, tertio et quarto longitudine 

 decrescentibus, obliquitate crescentibus necnon paulatim caudatioribus), quinto breviusculo minus 

 clavato unguiculis simplicibus munito. 



Single species of Opilus and Necrohia are the only representatives of the 

 CleridcB which have been hitherto detected in the Madeira Islands ; and even of 

 these, the latter at any rate would appear to have been naturalized from more 

 northern cotintries, — occurring, only, either about houses or in the immediate 

 vicinity of the towns, and at aU times under doubtful circumstances. Opilus may 

 be readily known by its linear outUne, hirsute and prettily fasciated siirface, and 

 by the largely developed securiform joint with which the whole of its palpi are 

 terminated. The somewhat spongiose structm-e, and membranous adjimcts, of 

 the soles of its feet should be especially noticed, — the joints themselves moreover 

 being oblique, with the basal one extremely small and (on account of its obUqmty) 

 scarcely perceptible from above ; wliilst the penultimate one (as also, though in a 

 less degree, the antepenultimate) has its under appendages distinctly bUobed (a 

 peculiarity* wliich is remarkably apparent in the INladciran member of the group). 

 The O^nli are found principally in rotten wood, or beneath the loose bark of trees, 

 — on which, nevertheless, they are supposed not to feed, but rather on the minute 

 insects and larvae with which such localities necessarily abound. 



196. OpUas moUis. 



O. lineari-elongatus subcylindricus fusco-piceus et pilis longissimis mollibus suberectis adspersus, 

 capite prothoraceque ruguloso-punctatis, hoc postice constricto ad apicem pallidiore, elytris pro- 

 funde seriatim punctatis, fasciis duabus (unS, sc. basali obliqud, sed altera media transversa) et 

 apice pallido-omatis, antennis pedibusque pallidis. 



Long. Corp. lin. 4^6. 



Attelahus mollis, Linn. Fna Sure. 186 (1761)." 

 Notoxtts mollis, Vab. Unt. S^st. i. 211 (1792). 

 Opilo mollis, Lat. Sist. JVa/. des Ins. ix. 149 (1804). 

 Opilus mollis. Staph. III. Brit. Ent. iii. 323 (1830). 



Habitat Maderam, sestate, rarior : ad Ribciro Frio mense Julio a.d. 1851 detexit Rev''"" Dom. Lowe, 

 necnon tria specimina prope Funchal reperta nuperrime Dom. Leacock communicavit. 



* In a few, less typical species which do not concern us here,— as, for instance, the O. porcafus. Fab., 

 and the O.fasciculatus, Schreib., — this bilohed structure does not appear to hold good ; the appendages 

 of the tarsal joints being there undirided. 



