410 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



rounded (and the two consequently somewhat gaping, or divergent, at the suture) ; and with a 

 large, postmedial, arcuated fascia, common to both (and bounded in front and behind, especially 

 the former, by a darker subglabrous portion, — which is generally besprinkled with a few blackish 

 scales), more or less distinctly white. Antenna and legs dusky-testaceous, — the former, and the 

 tarsi of the latter, being sometimes rather more obscure. 



A very distinct 'E\\xo])eva\ Apion ; and one wliicli may be at once recognised, not 

 only by its slender form and prettily fasciated siu-face, bvit likewise by the deep 

 postmedial fovea, and greatly sinuated hind margin, of its prothorax; though, 

 above all, by the peculiar construction of the apex of its elytra, — which I have not 

 seen elsewhere alluded to, but wliich is of a very extraordinary natm-e. If the 

 insect be viewed from behind, it will be perceived that each elytron is somewhat 

 in-oduced and separately rounded-off, so that the two slightly gape (or diverge) at 

 the suture, — a singularity which is rendered the more apparent from then* having 

 a tendency to be, also, constricted and subelevated in that particular region. It 

 occm-s in grassy spots, and amongst dense herbage, during the spring months, in 

 the vicinity of Funchal, though not very abundantly. Dm-ing my encampment 

 however in the llibeiro de Santa Luzia, ■\A'ith the Rev. R. T. Lowe, in May of 181-9, 

 I took it in considerable numbers towards the base of the lofty perpendicular rocks 

 wliich constitute the boundaries of the ravine. 



314. Apion sagittiferum, WoU. 



A. fusco-piceum subopacum, squamis albidis et subflavescenti-albidis adspersum, rostro brcviusculo, 

 prothorace ruguloso-punctato, ad basin leviter sinuato et in disco postico obscure foveolato, elytris 

 subovatis crenato-striatis, ad apicem integris et baud acuminatis, macula parva antemedia sub- 

 sagittata et fascia postmedia transversa recta communibus albidis ornatis, autennis pedibusque 

 testaceis, illis plerumque obscurioribus. 



Long. corp. liii. 1-1^. 



Huliitat insulas jMaderenses, prpcscrtim in gramiuosis locorum subeditiorum, hiuc inde vulgaris : in 

 Portu Sancto et Descrta Grandi abundat, inter lichenes in rupium fissm-is crescentes tempore 

 hiberno latitaus. 



A. smaller, shorter, convexer and more ovate than the A. veniale, brownish-piccous (sometimes with 

 a just perceptibly a;neous tinge), subopakc, and clothed (though not very densely) with white 

 and yellowish-white scales. Rostrum as in that insect, but a little more arcuated, less evidently 

 thickened behind the insertion of the antenu;v, and (if anything) perhaps a trifle shorter and 

 more robust. Pruthurax a little broader and shorter (in proportion) than that of the A. vernale, 

 also with its posterior margin rather less evidently sinuated, and with the fovea (or abbreviated 

 canal) of its hinder disk (instead of being deep and lai-ge) hardly perceptible, and sometimes 

 obsolete ; and not more bcs]n-inklcd with scales towards its sides than elsewhere. Elytra shorter, 

 more convex and ovate than in that species ; crenate-striated ; entire at their apex (luning no 

 appearance of the acuminated, constricted and subdivergent structure which is there so con- 



