INSECTA MADERENSIA. 455 



testaceous. Antenna at base, and the legs, testaceous ; the former with their apical portion 

 dusky. 

 Males (which are rather smaller than the females) with the basal joint of their four anterior tarsi 

 considerably dilated. 



The minute bulk, and exceedingly convex, highly polished and almost impunc- 

 tate surface of the present irisect will at once distinguish it from the whole of its 

 Madeiran allies, — even apart from its generic peculiarities (already pointed out). 

 It is a truly indigenous species, occurring beneath stones and moss at intermediate 

 and lofty altitudes, and apparently at aU seasons of the year. It is decidedly 

 scarce; though, at the same time, widely distributed over the island. Thus, I 

 have taken it, during the winter months, from under stones, towards the upper 

 extremity of the Eibeiro de Santa Luzia, — principally in grassy spots by the edges 

 of the stream : and in the sunrmer of 1850 I captured it at the Lombo dos Pece- 

 gueiros, and from beneath the dead, loosely-attached bark of trees in the upland 

 region of the Eanal. I have also brushed it from off vegetation in the elevated 

 district of the Cruzinhas ; and, on one occasion (whilst searching for Piqja con- 

 cinna), at the extreme head of the Bibeiro de Joao Delgada, I met with it in 

 tolerable abundance, under lichen on the exposed faces of the rocks : and it has 

 been detected by the Rev. R. T. Lowe at the Ribeiro Frio. At the Fanal I have 

 observed it in company with the curious Xenorchestes saltltans, to the females of 

 which (as lately stated) large specimens of the Mniophilosoma, in their size, colour, 

 and wonderfully smooth and subglobose bodies, bear so strong a resemblance, that 

 the two might, prima facie, be ahnost mistaken for each other. It is needless 

 however to remark that the most superficial examination wovdd at once discover 

 the differences : though I am inclined to suspect that there does, notwithstanding, 

 really exist some slight aflB.nity between the genera ; a svipposition which is not 

 rendered tlie less probable by the saltatorial powers and subapproximated antennae 

 of Xenorchestes, — facts which would seem to indicate an approach towards the 

 Galerucidce (from wliich group Mniophilosoma, as already demonstrated, is but 

 just removed). 



Genus 150. CRYPTOCEPHALUS. 



Geoffroy, Hist. Air. des Ins. de Paris, i. 231 (1762). 



Corpus mediocre vel parvum, plus minusve subcylindrico-ovale, convexiusculum, ssepe coloribus 

 diversis Isete pictum : capite deflexo ; oculis reuiformibus (intus leviter emarginatis) : prothorace 

 postice lato sinuato (elytrorum latitudine), amplo, antice convexo ; prosterno simplice : elytris ad 

 apicem truncatis dehiscentibus, pygidium vix tegentibus : alis amplis. Antenna filiformes, in 

 typicis leviter elongatse, inter oculos insertse sed basi baud approximate, articnlo primo robusto, 

 secundo brevi, tcrtio, quarto quintoque subgracilibus (tertio breviusculo, quarto quintoque longi- 

 tudine subaequalibus), reliquis vix crassioribus subsequalibus. Labi-urn amplum subcoriaceum 

 subquadratum, antice leviter bilobum. Manclibulce magnje cornese insequales, apice acutfe, infra 

 apicem dente robusto instructae. Maxilla bilobte : lobo externo lato obtuso setoso, vix palpifornii : 



