INSECTA MADERENSIA. 289 



necnon ad basin sinuatfe. Maxilla lobo singula lato setoso instructse [interno obsoleto). Palpi 

 conici crassi ; maxillares articulo pi-imo brevissimo lato, secundo longiore vix graciliore, tertio 

 brevi, ultimo mimito conico; labiates articulis primo et secundo crassiusculis subsequalibus, 

 ultimo minuto conico. Ligula membranacea elongata subtriangularis. Pedes brevissimi validi : 

 iibiis compressis, apicem versus dilatatis, extus fortiter dentatis, ad apicem interuum spina recta 

 armatis : tarsis articulis tribus baseos longiusculis crassiusculis subsequalibus, quarto minu- 

 tissimo, quinto longissimo subclavato. 



The TomicidcB, which by some entomologists are amalgamated with the Hylesi- 

 nidce, would appear to supply a very natural passage into the typical lihynco2)hora 

 from the departments which we have just left behind us ; for, whilst in all essential 

 respects they are Pseudotetramerovis, yet the peculiar characteristics of that 

 section (and especially of the E-hyncophorous portion of it) are unquestionably 

 less developed in them than in the more advanced forms. Thvis, whilst they 

 almost coincide as regards theii' oral organs with the modification observable in 

 the Hylesinldce, yet the head, which is distinctly elongated in that family (a struc- 

 ture which reaches its maximum in the Curculionklce), is here scarcely at all pro- 

 duced ; — and, whilst their tarsi, on the other hand, display the minute penultimate 

 joint which is so universal throughout the entire province of the Pseudotetrmnera, 

 yet the antepenultimate (which is, normally, in that division, deeply cordate, so 

 as to receive the following one between its lobes) is here simple, — as though to 

 connect the genera towards which we are approaching with the preceding (penta- 

 merous) ones. Such are the featm*es on which I would lay more decided stress 

 in detaching the TomicidcB from the HylesinidcB ; and it must be admitted that 

 they are very important, as being of all others perhaps the most prominent 

 which we make use of in framing om' actual definition of the Bhyncophora. 

 Nevertheless, essential as they are, they do not constitute all, since in the minor 

 details of their organization there are a few particulars wliich may serve, albeit in 

 a general way, to separate the two groups in question. Thus, for instance, the 

 more cylindrical bodies of the Tomicidce, the more produced and rugose front 

 region of their pronotum (singularities, be it noticed, which are broadly expressed 

 in the later Cissidce), in conjimction with their more (obliquely) truncated extre- 

 mity, are sufficiently evident, when contrasted with the corresponding points of 

 the Sylesmidce, to be at once appreciated. 



Tomicus proper may be known from its immediate allies by its 5-articulated 

 funiculus, and l^y the powerful denticulations of its tibiae. It possesses also those 

 two primary diagnostics of the ordinary members of the family, — namely the 

 anteriorly roughened and hooded prothorax, and the obliquely terminated elytra, — 

 more positively than is the case with either of the other Madeiran genera ; both of 

 which indeed are extremely anomalous, — whilst one of them, in the subemarginated 

 tliird joint of its tarsi, is so far aberrant as to form a connecting link with the Sy- 

 lesinidcB. The Tomici are of eminently lignivorous habits, — attaching themselves to 

 the larger trees, and being in nowise connected with the stalks of smaller plants. 



2p 



