452 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



during June and July, in equal multitudes. In the immediate vicinity of Funchal 

 it is somewhat scarce; and, as "vve ascend the moimtains, beyond the limits of 

 4000 feet, rarer still. Nevertheless it is widely distributed even over the loftiest 

 altitudes, where in particularly exposed localities it takes shelter beneath stones, — 

 as I liave frequently remarked on the upland plain of the Fateiras and along the 

 edges of the Caminho de Meyo, around the southern base of the Pico da Silva. 

 Dm'ing my encampment in the elevated region of the Cruzinhas, in July of 1850, 

 I met with it sparingly ; but did not detect it on the extreme summit of the Pico 

 Ruivo, — where (with the exception of the great height) there is every condition 

 necessary for its development. The var. y, from Porto Santo, is interesting as 

 affording another example of the modifying influences of local circumstances on 

 external insect form. That the species is identical with the Madeiran one 1 have 

 not the slightest doubt, — the sculpture and colour, as I conceive, having merely 

 undergone a change since the remote period of its isolation on a comparatively 

 calcareous soil. 



§ II. Tarsi anteriores articulo hasilari latissimo cordato : alee ohsoletw. 



(Subgenus EUPUS, WoU.) 



347. Psylliodes tarsata, Woll. (Tab. IX. fig. 5.) 

 P. elliptica convexiuscula subnitida subcyanescenti-nigra, capitc, prothorace, anteunarum basi pedi- 



busque (apice femorum posticorum vix picescente excepto) rufo-testaceis, prothorace amplo antice 



baud angustato, elytris punctato-striatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. l^-l^. 



Habitat in Madera umbrosis montosis, sestate non iufrequens : Maderam borealem, nisi fallor, pr?e- 

 sertim occupat, qua mense Julio a.d. 1850 plurima specimina ad Lombo dos Pecegueiros inveni. 



P. rather narrow, elliptical, somewhat convex, very slightly shining, and quite apterous. Head and 

 prothorax almost impunctate, and of a bright rufo-testaccous ; the latter rather large, and not 

 at all narrowed in front. Elytra rather coarsely punctate-striated ; acuminated posteriorly, and 

 a little constricted at their extreme base ; and of a deep subcyaneous-blaek. Legs testaceous, — 

 except the apical poi'tion of the tuu hinder femora, yihich are pale brownish-piceous. Antenna at 

 base testaceous, at apex infuscated. Four anterior tarsi with their basal joint enormously dilated, 

 and cordate. 



Thi'oughout all the Madeu'an Coleoptera there is scarcely a species better defined 

 than the P. tarsata, nor is there any one perhaps which we may more safely 

 pronounce as strictly indigenous. Receding as it does fi-om the remainder of the 

 genus, both in outward aspect and structm-e, it is hardly necessary to point out 

 more minutely its distinctive features, — since its beautifully coloured surface, 

 entirely apterous body (as in so many of the insects of these islands), and the im- 

 mensely dilated basal joint of its four anterior feet (a very remarkable modifica- 



