INSECTA MADERENSIA. 349 



the roots and witliin the stems of which their larvae reside, — much to the detri- 

 ment of the inner portions, which they gradually destroy. 



§ I. Elytra apice seorsum plus minusve acuminata, interdum dehiscentia. 



270. Lixus Cheiranthi, Woll. 



Ij. opacus, pube cinereo-albida depressa dense tectus et linea marginal! niveo-squamosa valde distincta 

 ornatus, prothorace leviter varioloso-granulato, elytris sat profunde striato-punctatis, apice 

 seorsum acuminatis et subrecurvo-dehiscentibus, rostro minus elongato crasso minute sub- 

 punctato, antennis ad basin ipsam rufo-piceis. 



Long. Corp. lin. 5-8i. 



Habitat prope urbem Maderse Funclialensem, a Rev''" Dom° Reynardsou Novembri mense a.d. 1848 

 primo delectus, et mibi benevole comnmuicatus : super plantas Cheiranthi Cheiri, Linn., in hortis 

 crescentes prsesertim victitat, eujus caules larva destruit. 



I*, opake, densely clothed with a pale ashy-white and exceedingly decumbent pubescence ; and mar- 

 gined with a broad, conspicuous snowy-white band. Head with a very minute (sometimes 

 almost obsolete) impression between the eyes ; and with the rostrum thick, not very long, and 

 rather densely, but very minutely and obscurely, punctulated. Prothorax somewhat unevenly 

 granulated, and with obscure indications of a few irregular shallow punctures, or varioles, inter- 

 mixed ; and with scarcely any trace of a dorsal line. Elytra more shining (when denuded of 

 their scales) than the prothorax, not granulated, and rather more thickly clothed with whitish 

 pubescence, somewhat deeply striate-punctate ; each of them considerably acuminated at the apex, 

 the points being a good deal divergent and slightly recurved. Antennte rather short, and with 

 about two-thirds of the scape dull rufo-piceous. 



A large and most elegant Lixus, and readily recognised from the remainder of 

 the genus with which we have here to do by the pale ashy-white, and very decum- 

 bent pubescence with which it is densely clothed (and which, from being placed 

 on a darker ground, gives the entire surface a somewhat leaden hue), by the 

 extremely broad and conspicuous snowy margin with which it is begirt, by its 

 unevenly granuled and subvariolose prothorax, by the liasal portion of the scape of 

 its (rather short) antennae lieing alone rufescent, and by its comparatively greatly 

 aciiminated and apically- divergent elytra. It appears to be exceedingly scarce, 

 and confined, so far as I am aware, to the immediate vicinity of Funchal, where it 

 was discovered by the E-ev. J. Birch Reynardson, in November of 1848, on plants 

 of the common wallflower {Cheircmtlms Cheiri, Linn.) in the garden of the Quinta 

 dos Saltos (on the Caminho de Santa Luzia Velha), above the town. I possess 

 specimens of the larva, extracted from out of the stalks by Mr. Reynardsou, liut 

 they do not in any respect differ from the ordinary larvse of the Curculionkke. 

 The insect appears to be somewhat allied to the L. Wagneri, Lucas, from Algeria, 

 as also to the L. ochraceus, Schon., from Dalmatia, — though unqu.estionalily 

 distinct, specifically, from them both. 



