330 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Genus 117. ACALLES. 



Schoiiherr, Cure. Disp. Meth. 295 (1826). 



Corpus mediocre vel parvum, plus minusve oblongo-ovatum gibbosuin sculpturatum, sa;pius dense 

 squainoso-variegatum : rustru longiusculo \alid() subarcuato, in maribus opaco rugose punctato et 

 (in speciebus Maderensibus saltern) in medio plus miuiisve obscurissime carinato, in foeminis 

 paulo tcnuiore nitido leviter punctato ; inflexo, in canaliculain pectoralem profundam argutissime 

 deterniinatam (fere ad coxas pedum intermediorum extcndentem) arete applicando ; uculis sub- 

 rotundatis : prothorace subovato basi truncato, longe intra apicem coarctato, ad latera in medio 

 plus minusve rotundato-ampliato, antice acuminate et (in nostris) plus minusve setose : scutello 

 aut null(j, aut minutissimo (vix observaudo) : elytris subovatis basi truncatis, plus minus\e 

 gibbosis et ad apicem leviter coarctato-acuminatis, connatis : alls obsoletis. Antenna brcviuseula; 

 crassiuscula;, prope medium rostri inserta;; funiculo 7-articulato, articulis primo et secundo 

 elongatis, illo crassiore obconico, reliquis brevioribus subretundatis ; capitulo subovato quadri- 

 annulato. Pedes robusti, an/ici basi distantes, intermedii interdum brcviusculi : femoribus mode 

 (ut in nostris) muticis, mode subtus deuticulo minute armatis : tibiis rectis vel subrectis, ad 

 apicem internum plerumque truncatis muticis, ad externum in uncum deflexum productis. 



The connate clj-tra and nndevelopcd wings of Acalles, added to its densely scaly, 

 more or less variegated and uneven surface, its robust rostrum (especially of the 

 males, which is always more rugosely pimctiu'ed and less shining than that of the 

 females), its exceedingly deep and abruptly terminated pectoral groove, its an- 

 teriorly-acuminated prothorax, and its more or less apically-constricted hinder 

 quarters, will at once serve to distinguish it from the neighbouring genera with 

 which we have lierc to do. The insects which it embraces reside either under 

 stones in exposed grassy spots, or amongst dense herbage beneath trees ; and are 

 extremely sluggish during the day, though more active at night. The genus may 

 be said to play an important part amongst the Curculionidce of this region, no less 

 tliau thirteen species having been the result of my researches up to the present 

 period, — all of them, apparently, pecidiar to the ]\Iadeu'an grouji. They belong 

 however, principally, to a rather large U^^c of form which Avould seem to prevail 

 throughout Mediterranean latitudes, and traces of which we meet with, more or 

 less evidently, in Sicily, the south of Spain, Portugal, the north of Africa, on the 

 rocks of the Salvages*, and in the Canary Islands. In ^Madeira they appear to 



* The gigantic and very interesting Acalles, wliieh has been lately brought from those remote rocks by 

 my friend T. S. Leaeock, Esq. of Fuuehal, is apparently more akin to the A. saxieola than to any other 

 species hitherto discovered. In its general habits and coutoui- indeed it possesses a vast deal in common 

 with the Dezertau insect, and proves no less clearly than the remarkable genus Deucalion (hereafter to be 

 noticed), the close relationship of the Salvages to the Dezerlas in their Coleopterous population. The 

 A. arffillosiis of Schouliorr, from Tenerille, is in all probabUity (judging from the description) modelled 

 on much the same type ; — in which case, we have a continuous series of intimately aUicd forms, yet speci- 

 fically distinct, existing throughout nearly all the islands of this portion of the Atlantic. I subjoin a 

 diagnosis of the representative from the Salvages, which will not be considered, here, out of place : 



Acalles Nepttmus, IVoll. 

 A. oblongo-ovatus, squamis ciuereis magnis variegatus ; prothorace ante medium latiuscido, angxdis 



