470 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



361. Scymnus mininms. 

 S. ater, profunde punctulatus, ore, antennis pedibusqiie (fcmorum posteriorum apice nigrescente 



excepto) testaceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. f-vix |. 



Coccinella minima, Eossi, Mant. Ins. ii. 89 (1794). 



, Gyll. Ins. Siiec. iv. 195 (1827), 



Sajmnus ater, Dcj. Cat. (.S'^""^ edit.) ■162 (18-37). 



minimus, Mulsant, Securip. de 'France, 260 (1846). 



Habitat in hortis vinetisque Madcrse, super folia plantarum, vulgaris : mense Julio ad Lombo dos 

 Pecegueiros, necnon sero autumno in graminosis humidiusculis ad Curral das Ilomeiras, 

 observavi. 



S. minute, hemispherical, deep black, pubescent and shining, more coarsely and distinctly punctiilated 

 than the other species. Mouth, antenna, tibice and tarsi testaceous. Femora more or less 

 obscured towards their apex, especially the hinder ones, — the anterior pair being nearly as pale 

 as the tibia; and tarsi. 



The S. minimus and lAmnichoicles are apparently the only Madeiran Scymni 

 which are entirely hlack ; nevertheless, receding as they do, hoth in structure and 

 contoiu', from each other, it is scarcely possible to mistake them inter se. The 

 former may be at once known by its minute size and hemispherical outline, by its 

 comparatively shining and evidently punctulated surface, by its intensely dark 

 hue, and by the slightly obscured apices of its posterior femora. It is an extremely 

 aliuudant insect near Funchal, in vineyards and other cultivated grounds. In the 

 Rev. II . T. Lowe's garden at the Leva da I have taken it in the greatest profusion 

 durmg the spi'ing, — especially on the foliage of the Duranta JPliimieri, to which, 

 with several of the other species, it is remarkably attached. It is not however 

 peculiar to the inhaliitcd districts, since, like the S. Durantce and flavojnctits, I 

 have captured it in remote positions far removed from any traces of civilization. 

 In the region of the Lombo dos Pecegueiros it was not uncommon in July 1850 ; 

 and I have brushed it from off the herbage which clothes the mountain-slopes of 

 the Ctu'ral das Romeiras, diu-ing the autumnal months. It occiu's throughout 

 the greater portion of Em-ope, from Sweden to the Mediterranean limits. 



§ II. Coi'pm ovatum ; alis ohsoletis. (Habitat sub lapidibus in aperto.) 



362. Scymnus Limnichoides, Walt. (Tab. X. fig. 3.) 



S. niger, prothorace interdum (prsesertim ad latera) picescente, antennis pedibusque pallido-ferrugineis. 

 Long. corp. lin. *. 



Habitat in montosis graminosis Portus Sancti, sub lapidibus Aprili mense a.d. 1848 a meipso repertus. 



