418 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



its mouth are moulded in every respect after the ordinary Anthribideous type; 

 whilst, on the other hand, its subapproximated antennas (which are inserted into 

 its forehead between the eyes) would tend to associate it with the departments 

 above mentioned, — from which also its extraordinary capability of leaping would 

 not assist in removing it. In this last peculiarity however it agrees equally with 

 Choragus (of the Brnchidoi), — to which, as just stated, I believe it to be veiy nearly 

 akin. The sexual variation in the length of its limbs is more in accordance with 

 what we know of the Rhyncophora than with the Phijtophaga ; and its habits, 

 wliich appear to be subcortical, incline likewise to the former. Still, as regards its 

 mode of Hfe, ILiiophilosoma does not altogether ditfer fi'om it, being very liable to 

 (at any rate) harbour beneath loosely-attached bark, — under which circumstances 

 I have frequently captm'cd it in company with Xenorchestes ; and, from its strong 

 prima facie resemblance in general contour and colouring to the females of that 

 insect, have not always found it easy at fii-st sight to separate the two. 



321. Xenorchestes saltitans, Woll. (Tab. Till. fig. 8.) 

 X. niger nitidus glaberrimus et fere irapunctatus, prothoracis margine antico saepius dilutiorc, anten- 

 narum basi ferruginea, pedibus vel infuscato-piceis vel infuscato-ferrugineis. 

 Mas, plerumque paulo major, antcnnis pedibusque longioribus. 

 Long. Corp. lin. f-lj. 



Habitat in Madera sylvatica excelsa, sub cortice arborum laxo, rarior : ad Ribeiro Frio tempore 

 hiberno, necnon in regione Fanalensi mense Julio, parce observavi. 



X. ovate and rather compressed laterally, exceedingly convex, black (and usually with a just appre- 

 ciable greenish tinge), perfectly glabrous, highly jiolished, and almost unsculptured. PrutJwrax 

 large, wide behind, and with its fore-margin generally a little transparent and diluted in colouring ; 

 appearing all but unpunctured beneath a moderate lens, — but under the microscope finely 

 granidated, and with distant and most minutely impressed points intermixed (as also with a row 

 of rather larger punctures along its extreme hinder edge). Elijtra not perceptibly sculptured 

 except beneath tlie microscope (when they will be observed to be most dehcatoly but remotely 

 punetulated, though even more finely so than the prothorax; and without any appearance of 

 granules). Antenna and legs either brownish-piceous or brownish-ferruginous. 

 Male, usually a little larger than the female, and with the antenna; and legs rather longer. 



ExceecUngly rare, and confined to the forest districts of intermediate and lofty 

 elevations, — where it occurs beneath the dead, loosely-attached bark of trees in 

 damp spots. I have taken it at the Ribeiro Frio dm-ing the ^-inter ; and, in July, 

 at the Lombo dos Pccegueiros and the Fanal. It leaps but very imperfectly (not 

 more successfully in fact than the Euclneti), — as indeed the construction of its 

 hind legs (which arc not more tliickened than the remainder) would lead us to 

 anticii)ate. From their highly-polished, glabrous, laterally-compressed bodies and 

 saltatorial liabits, small female examples bear a sin^vXviV prima facie resemblance 

 to dark specimens of the common flea. 



