258 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



(instead of being oblong, narrow, and composed of three equal and loosely-attached 

 parts) robust, broad, ovate and more compact, — the first two joints being short 

 and transverse, and the last extremely large, wide and subquadrate, and obliquely 

 truncated at its extremity : whilst, as regards their palpi, the apical articulation 

 in Necrohia is fusiform and subacuminated (not exceeding the prcAaous one in 

 breadth) ; whereas in Corynetes it is dilated and securiform. In other respects, 

 the groups are almost coincident ; unless indeed it be that the minute fourth 

 articulation of theu* feet is perhaps even smaller in Necrohia than it is in Corynetes, 

 — which mav possibh' in fact be the reason wliy it was overlooked bv Cm'tis, who 

 gives " the tarsi i-jointed " as one of the distinctive featiu'es of the Necrohice. 



197. Necrobia ruficoUis. 

 N. oblonga cyanea pubescens et pilis longissimis mollibus suberectis adspersa, capite prothoraceque 



punctatis, hoc elytrommque basi rufis, thorace subtus pedibusque rufo-testaceis, antennis abdo- 



mineque nigrescentlbus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. 2-2i. 



Anohium ruficolle, Thung. Nov. Spec. i. 8. fig. 7 (1781). 

 Dermestes ruficoUis, Fab. Ent. Si/sf. i. 230 (1792). 

 Necrobia ruficoUis, Oliv. Ent. iv. 76. 2. pi. 1. fig. 2 a,b (1795). 

 , Stcph. lU. Brit. Ent. iii. 327 (1830). 



Habitat in domibus Maderse (mihi non obvia), ex alienis certe introducta : duo specimina e nmseo 

 Heineckeniano a Rev''" Dom. Lowe munifice donata sola possideo; sed in ipsa ui-be Funchalensi 

 mense Aprili a.d. 1851 collegit cl. Dom. Heer. 



N. oblong, cyaneous (or shining blue), very pubescent, and beset with exceedingly long, soft, nearly 

 erect, paler additional pile. Head and prothorax regularly punctured : the latter, together with 

 the base of the elytra (which arc finely punctate-striated, and rugulose), rufous. Body beneath 

 with the entire thoracic segments pale rufous, or rufo-testaceous, and with the abdomen black. 

 AntenruB nearly black. Legs rufo-testaceous. 



An insect of very wide geographical range, occurring in all parts of Europe, and 

 in the north of a\ii'ica; and being recorded as ha^-iug been received even from 

 India. In real fact however, it is a species attendant upon commerce, being liable 

 to constant transmission tlu'oughout the ci^olized world, amongst skins and other 

 articles of merchandise, — on portions of which it subsists : and it is probably, in 

 fact, through some such agency that it has insinuated itself into Mademi. It is 

 found priucii)ally about dwellings and warehouses, in and near Funchal ; but, as 

 my own researches have been but slightly prosecuted in such positions, I have not 

 myself succeeded in detecting it. I possess however two very old siiecimens from 

 the collection of the late Dr. Heinecken, — from a label still attached to which, the 

 insect appears to have been "common [about the year 1828] in rotten cheese;" 

 and it has been recently taken by Professor Heer, in Fimchal. 



