288 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Evidently an imported insect into Madeira, occuiTing principally in tlie houses 

 of Funclial, — where it attaches itself to articles of commerce, though more espe- 

 cially to farinaceous preparations and di-ied vegetable sul)stances of various kinds. 

 It is under such circumstances that it is found throughout Europe generally ; and 

 in England I have obserA'ed it, in great abimdance, in powdered arrow-root. It is 

 stated by Kii-by and Spence to have been detected amongst roots of Turkey 

 rhubarb in the East India Company's warehouses in London ; and both Marsham 

 and Stephens have remarked that it is constantly liable to be introduced with roots 

 and seeds from India, — from whence indeed the specimens described by Fabricius 

 in 1798 were brought. Hence, its original centre of diffusion was probably extra- 

 European : nevertheless, if not truly indigenous, it would appear to have esta- 

 blished itself more completely on the southern Mediterranean limits than in cooler 

 latitudes, since M. Lucas, in his accoimt of the Coleoptera of Algeria, records its 

 existence beneath the bark of the Quercus suber and Cytisus spinosiis dui-ing the 

 winter and spring months, in the vicinity of Oran. 



Sectio vii. rhyncophora. 



Fam. 32. TOMICID^. 



Genus 101. TOMICUS*. 



LatrciUe, Hist. Nat. des Ins. iii. 203 (1802). 



Corpus parvum, cylindricum : capite subdeflexo, vix producto : prolhorace amplo convexo, aiitice pro- 

 ducto et scabroso : elytris apice plus minusve obliquo- truncatis : alis amplis. Antenna capitatae; 

 scapo (i. e. ai-ticulo primo) longissimo clavato ; funiculo [i. e. articulis inter scapum et capitulum 

 sitis) 5-articulato, articulo primo robusto apice truncate, reliquis brevissimis a basi angusta 

 latitudine paulatim crescentibus ; capitulo solidissinio, obscure quadri-annulato. Labrum ob- 

 soletum. Mandibula comese validse subtriangulares obtusse, infra apicem dente obtuso instructae 



* It is difficult to understand on wliat principle many of the European entomologists sfill persist in 

 appropriating the title oi Bostiicliu.i iV)r the Tomici, except ou the unfair partiality which exists of em- 

 pl()\ing everything Fahrician at the expense of priority. If indeed the term of Bostrichns is to be used 

 at all (and there is no reason why it should not), it is clear that it should be applied to the Bermestes 

 capiicinus, Linn., for which it was originally established by Geoftroy inl764, — and to which, eleven years 

 afterwards, Fabricius chose to give the name of Apate. The fact of Fabricius ha\'ing cited (in 1792) 

 some of the members of the present group as Bostriclii cannot be the slightest excuse for endorsing his 

 falsification of G^eoflroy's generic name, — which appertains to the Bermestes capminus (and to whatsoever 

 allied species may have been since discovered) exclusively. Bostrichus therefore having been correctly 

 disposed of (and moreover conceded to its projyer author, which in common justice we are bound to do), 

 it is evident that Latreille's appellation of Tomicm, proposed for these insects in 1802, should, ui accord- 

 ance with the laws of precedence, be accepted. 



