INSECTA MADERENSIA. 379 



There can be but little fear of confounding tlie present Atlantis mtli any of the 

 remainder here described, the only one which it assimilates in the least being the 

 A. Schaumn, — with which it agrees in the equality of the first and second joints of 

 its funiculus, and, to a certain extent, in its convex and ovate form. It may 

 however be at once recognised from that insect by the somewhat straight, and 

 more suddenly clavated scape of its antennre, by its thicker, and less apically- 

 divergcnt rostrum, by its shorter, wider, and more deeply sculptured prothorax, 

 and by its more posteriorly acuminated elytra, — which last are not only more 

 closely covered and tessellated with scales and have their striaj crenated rather 

 than punctate, but entu'ely want the longer additional hairs which are so con- 

 spicuous towards the hinder quarters of that insect. Added to which, its 

 pubescence is not merely denser, but is altogether of a different colour from that of 

 the A. Schmtmii, — being of a uniformly dull olivaceous-, or golden-brown, and 

 completely free from the bright metallic green tinge which characterises the small 

 portion wliich exists on tliat insect. Its habits moreover are of a totally different 

 nature from those of the A. Scliaumii, being sylvan, alpine, diiu'ual, and solitary ; 

 whereas the latter agrees in every respect with the other aberrant Atlantides, — 

 congregating in vast numbers beneath stones on the exposed mountain-slopes of 

 low and intermediate elevations, from which it never wanders except by night. It 

 is the only Madeiraii representative of the present division of the genus which I 

 have hitherto been able to detect ; being not uncommon during the summer 

 months throughout the forest regions, though apparently attaining its maximum 

 towards their upper limits, — from about 4000 feet, perhaps, to nearly 5000 above 

 the sea. It is found on the native laurels in the densest parts of the wooded 

 districts, the whole of my specimens having been obtained by beating the foliage 

 during the daytime, when they were always in an active state. I have captured it 

 on the Lombo das Vacas in June ; at the Lombo dos Pecegueiros, the Cruzinhas, 

 the Faual, and at the head of the Ribeiro de Jofio Delgada, in July ; and at the 

 Ribeiro Frio in August. 



In its normal state it may be immediately distinguished, apart from other 

 (though not less important) differences, by its perfect freedom from additional erect 

 pile, which is not traceable even at its hinder extremity ; and the var. (3., in which 

 the entire surface of the elytra is thickly beset with short and minute setse, is 

 scarcely less remarkable, being unparalleled in any of the other species of Atlantis, 

 — though exactly represented in the Cyphoscelis distoHa, an insect of which the 

 habits are exceedingly similar. The var. /3. is decidedly rare ; nevertheless I have 

 taken it at the Cruzinhas, at the head of the Ribeiro de Joao Delgada, and at the 

 Ribeiro Frio. 



290. Atlantis Schamnii, Woll. 

 A. brevi-ovatus convexus piceus, pube subviridescenti-, vel subaurescenti-micante depress^ parcissime 

 variegatus, protborace leviter punctato, elytris subglobosis punctato-striatis, apicem versus setis 



3 c 2 



