318 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



it becomes necessary, in nearly every instance, to procure an extensive series of 

 specimens l^efore we are able to connect the extremes of form, and fully to appre- 

 ciate its Umits. 



§ I. Antennee breviuseula : rostrum in maribus prope medium {ad antennarum insertUmem) vix ampliatum. 



243. Mesites Euphorbiae, WoU. 



M. sublinearis badio-piceus depressus, prothorace profuiulo punctato longitudinaliter obscurissime 



carinato, elytris crenato-striatis subtiliter pubescentibus, sutura. necnon interdum plaga obsole- 



tissima versus latera nigrescentibus, interstitiis subplanis minutissime punctulatis, antennis 



pedibusque rufo-piceis. 



Vai-. /3. plerumque minor, plus minusve badius vel rufo-fen-ugineus, capite, rostro ad basin, scutello, 



elytrorumque suturS, nigrescentibus. 

 Vw. y. protboracis punetis minoribus indistinctis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. mas, 2^-4^^ : foem., 2^-3f . 



Habitat locos editiores Maderse, sub cortice Euphorbia mellifercB, Linn. PhiL, hinc inde vulgaris : in 

 sylva quadam Enphui-biarum prope Lagoani Fanalensem sitS, (circa SOCKy s. m.) d. 17 Jul. a.u. 

 1850 copiosissime iuveni. 



M. subliucar, reddisb-piceous witb more or less of an additional chestnut hue (causing the surface to 

 be somewhat clouded, or unequal in intensity, like the darker portions of tortoiseshell), scarcely 

 at all shining, and exceedingly depressed. Forehead, in both sexes, roughly punctured and 

 grooved between the eyes. Prothorax coarsely punctured, with a deep central depression behind 

 (in front of the seutellum), and with very obscui'c indications of an unpunctured keel down the 

 centre. Elytra perceptibly pubescent, deeply crcnatc-striatcd, with the interstices subeonvex 

 and most delicately punetalated ; the sutiu-e (with the seutellum), and a very ill-detined dash 

 towards the lateral edges, more or less obscurely darker. Antenna and legs rufo-piccous ; the 

 former short, with their club ferruginous ; and the latter with the base of their femora usually a 

 little dusky. 



Male, with the rostrum thick, punctulated and grooved, and scarcely at ail dilated at the point of 

 insertion of the antennae, — which are placed about midway between its base and apex. 



Female, with the rostioim rather shorter, slenderer, and polished, being almost unpunctulated and 

 witliout a groove, — its extreme base (just in front of which its antennae are inserted) being alone 

 dilated and rough. 



\'nr. j3. usually of a smaller size, and more or less of a pale chestnut, or rufo-ferniginous hue, — 

 the head, the rostrum (especially at its base), the seutellum, and the elytral suture being alone 

 more or less distinctly darker. 



Var. y. with the prothoracic punctures exceedingly small and indistinct. 



Apart from minor differences, in coloiir and sculi)turc, the present Jfesifes may 

 1)6 readily known from the following one by its smaller size, flatter body, and by 

 its shorter antenna?, which iu the male sex arc implanted nearer the middle of the 



