382 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



its nearly obsolete scutellum, to agree better with, the ordinary Oiniades than 

 either the O. ventrosus or the O.Jlafi];)es; and I am by no means certain that it 

 might not be more natiu-al to regard the last two as minute Atlaatides, and the 

 first one only as an Omias. Still, I prefer, upon the whole, the present arrange- 

 ment, since there are a few particulars, even independently of bulk (as, for 

 instance, their entii-ely pilose elytra, their perceptibly acuminated rostrum, and 

 the basal joint of then- funiculus being distinctly longer than the second), which 

 would seem to imply that the space l^etween the Atlantis Force and the Omias 

 ventrosus is more than a specific one. Be this however as it may, there can be 

 no doubt that two at least out of the Madoiran members of Omias (as I have 

 defined them to be) are very intimately related, in real affinity, to the aberrant 

 Atlantides, — since they have not only a \'isible scutellum, and their front tibia? 

 more apically incurved than is the case with the prevailing northern forms, but 

 theii" surfaces arc densely pubescent and by no means vmusually convex, and the 

 groove of their (somewhat long and slender) antennae is altogether wider, and not 

 nearly so abbre\'iated as that which exists in the Omiades proper. 



§1. Corpus plus minii^ve avatmn pubeseens ; scutello distincto. 



292. Omias ventrosus, WoU. 



O. subovatus piceo-nigcr, pube infuscato-cinercri robusta depressa tectus, prothorace profiinde punc- 

 tato, clytris punctato-striatis, pilis brevissiiuis paruin rigidis suberectis plefumque undique 

 obsitis, interstitiis alteruis iuterdum obsolete tessellatis, antennis pedibusque fusco-ferrugincis. 



Long. Corp. bn. l|-2. 



Habitat sub lapidibus in graminosis cditioribus Maderse, tempore hiberno et vernali, vulgatissimus, — 

 inter 4000' et 5000' s. m. pncdominans. 



O. subovate, black or jiiceous-black, and ratber densely clothed with a robust, decumbent, dull 

 brownish-cinereous pubescence. Rostrum shoi't, thick, and roughly punctured : the eyes I'ather 

 prominent. Prothorax deeply punctured ; with the sides rounded ; and widest about, or a little 

 behind the middle. Elytra not very convex, and usually widest a little behind the middle ; 

 punctate-striated ; beset all over with exceedingly short, robust, suberect additional hairs (which, 

 although usually distinct, are however occasionally scarcely perceptible) ; the alternate interstices 

 with a tendency to be very obscurely tessellated with denser portions of the pubescence. Antenna 

 and legs dull brownish-feri-uginous, and more or less darkly infuscated in parts. 



A most abundant insect, dtu-ing the Avinter months, on the grassy mountain- 

 slopes of jMadeira at lofty elevations, — apparently attaining its maximum between 

 the limits of from 4000 to abovit 5000 feet above the sea. On the somewhat flat 

 and exposed district towards the base of the Pico da Silva (on the Caminho de 

 Meio), and along the itpland ridges from the P6uso and the Fonte das !Mocas to 

 the Pico da Lagoa, and from thence to the Pico dos Axieros ; as well as on the 



