332 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



above the sea. The males of the followiag species slightly exceed the females m 

 magnitude, and are, likewise, more abundant, — since, out of 89 specimens from 

 which the descriptions have been compiled, I find them distributed in the propor- 

 tion of 53 of the former to 36 of the latter. 



§ I. Corpus plerumque magnum, ohscure coloratum ; scuteUo nulla, aut saltern hand ohs&rvando. (Habitant 

 in locis aridis subinaritimis, prrosertim iufra 2000 pcd. alt.) 



253. Acalles saxicola, Woll. 



A. oblongo-ovatus, squamis cinercis variegatus ; prothorace convexo integro, nee canaliculate nee 

 tubcrculato sed lineis pallidioribus plus minusve obsoletis longitudinaliter decorate, ad apieem 

 leviter setuloso ; elytris profimde punctato-striatis, ad latera rotundatis, carinis interruptis nodu- 

 lisve minutis post medium instructis, plaga hastata communi postmedia (antice et prtesertim 

 postice nigro-terminata) plus minusve obseura ornatis. 



Long. Corp. lin. 2-3^. 



Habitat ins. Desertae Grandis, sub lapidibus Maio exeunte a.d. 1850 a meipso repertus. 



A. oblong-ovate, densely variegated with ashy-white scales. Rostrum dark piccous, opake and exceed- 

 ingly roughly punctured in the males, being more rugose than in any of the other ^ladeiran 

 species ; a little slenderer, shining, and less punctured in the females. Prothorax convex (especially 

 heliind) and entire, having no appearance of a dorsal channel, or of tubercles across the central 

 ])ortion, but usually ornamented with three vei"y obscurely paler, more or less obsolete, longitu- 

 dinal lines ; produced, but veiy slightly setose, at the apex. Elytra deeply punctate-striated ; 

 and rounded at the sides ; with a few small nodules, or interrupted ridges, behind the middle ; 

 and with a transverse, hastate, postmedial abbreviated fascia, or patch, common to both (and 

 terminated before and behind by a more clouded portion of the surface, — especially the latter, 

 where there are, likewise, indications of a darker margin), more or less distinctly paler. Antenna 

 feiTUginous. Femora and tibia (particularly the latter) each encircled by a darker ring. 



Apparently peculiar to the Dezerta Grande, from whence I obtained a series of 

 examples during my encampment there at the end of May 1850. In conjunction 

 witli the following three species, it would seem to be modelled, in some respects, 

 on a slightly different type fi-om the remamder of the genus, — as not only being 

 of an ol)scurer hue and altogether destitute of a ^-isible scutellum, but as, likcAWse, 

 inhaljitiug (instead of the lofty sylvan regions) arid rocky spots, principally near 

 the coast, and of a somewhat lower elevation. It may be known by the jxile ashy- 

 coloured scales with wliich it is densely variegated, by the extremely rougldy 

 punctiu'ed rostrimi of the males, by its posteriorly-convex, entire prothorax, and 

 by the small postmedial nodules and regularly hastate patch of its (laterally 

 rounded) elytra. My specimens were captured from out of the hollows of loose 

 stones, or scoi'iaj (in the I'urtliest recesses of wliieh they were accustomed to secrete 

 themselves by day), towards the northern extremity of the island. 



