INSECTA MADERENSIA. 309 



constituted is one of the most truly indigenous throughout all the Madeu'an Cole- 

 optera. WTiilst their general structui-e shows them to be nearly related to Phlceo- 

 phagus, theu* comparatively unsculptured, glabrous bodies, and almost obsolete 

 scutella, in connexion with their subconnate elytra, freedom from wings, and 

 stalk-infesting habits, give them a character peculiarly their own. In this last 

 respect however (as also in its shorter rostrum) the first of the following species is 

 somewhat aberrant, since it appears to be strictly an inhabitant of rotten wood, 

 as the Rhyncoli, and not attached to mountaiu plants in exposed grassy spots, as 

 is the case, more or less, with the remainder : nevertheless in all essential par- 

 ticulars it belongs to the present group, and must consequently be regarded as a 

 Caulotrupis rather than a Phloeophagus. Several of them indeed may be often 

 captured beneath chippings of felled trees within the sylvan districts : yet all are 

 more abundant in the open coimtry, where they are found either within the stems 

 of plants, or adhering to the under sides of stones in positions entirely destitute of 

 timber. They are apparently more numerous on the adjacent islands than in 

 Madeira proper, — the green slopes of Porto Santo, and the weather-beaten surfaces 

 of the two northern Dezertas and of the Ilheo de Fora affording them localities in 

 which they would seem more especially to flourish. 



234. Caulotrupis lacertosus, Woll. (Tab. VI. fig. 6.) 



C. ovato-subcylindricus ater opacus granulatus, rostro brevi crasso, prothorace amplo subtilissime 



punctate, elytris leviter crenato-striatis, antennis ferrugineis, pedibus piceis. 

 Long. corp. lin. 2. 



Habitat Maderam, in ligno emortuo ad Curral das Romeiras prope Funchal autumno exeunte a.d. 18-t7 

 a meipso inventus. 



C. ovate-subcylindric and tbick, deep black, minutely granulated all over, and opake. Rostrum short 

 and broad. Prothorax convex and very large ; most minutely punctured ; and broadest about, 

 or a little before, the middle. Elytra lightly crenate-striated, and broadest behind the middle. 

 AntenncE short, and ferruginous. Legs piceous. 



A very distinct and well-marked species, differing from all the remainder in its 

 short, broad rostrum and largely developed prothorax, in its opake and deep black 

 surface, and in its finely crenate-striated elytra. In habits moreover, as ah'eady 

 stated, it would appear to recede from the rest of the genus here descrijjed, being, 

 I believe, strictly arboreal. The only two examples which have hitherto come 

 beneath my observation were captured by myself, during the autumn of 1847, 

 from the interior of rotten wood, in company with the Bhyncolus tenax, at the 

 Cujral das Romeiras near Eunchal. It was extremely sluggish in its movements, 

 — so much so indeed that it was with cUfficulty that it could be made to crawl at 

 all, when extracted out of its burrows. 



