490 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



many of the Tenebr ionic! ce, the single species which represents it is attendant upon 

 civilization, — subsisting on grain, and other articles of commerce, and so becoming 

 constantly liable to transmission throughout the world. 



373. Cerandria comuta. 

 C. sublineari-elongata rufo-ferruginea subnitida, prothoracc subconvexo antice lato subtilissime punc- 

 tulato, elytris punctato-striatis subdepressis. 

 Mas, paulo major, mandibulis magnis porrectis recurvis, fronte postice bicorni, fronteque ad latera 

 valdc recurvo-ampliata. 

 Long, coi-p. lin. 1^-2^. 



Trogosita cornuta, Fab. Snt. Syst. Suppl. 51 (1798). 

 Phaleria eormita, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. ii. 175 (1807). 

 Uloma cornuta, Steph. III. Brit. Ent. v. 10 (1832). 

 Cerandria cornuta, Dej. Cat. (3»'°= edit.) 222 (1837). 

 ■ , Lucas, Col. dc VAlgerie, 315 (1819). 



Habitat in domibus officinisque pistoriis Maderse, et borealis et australis, non infrequens : exemplar 

 uniciim (a meipso forsan illuc pane ablatum) etiam in ins. Deserta Grandi Maio exeuntc 

 .\.D. 1850 legi. 



C. sublinear-elongatc, bright rufo-ferruginous, and slightly shining. Head and profkurax closely 

 and finely punctulated : the fonncr with the forehead rounded in the females, a little expanded and 

 elevated before the eyes, and slightly depressed in front, — but in the males (whieh have also the 

 mandibles immensely developed and recurved) with the sides greatly dilated and recurved, 

 causing the anterior portion to be bisinuated, or produced into a depressed central lobe ; 

 simple behind in the females, but armed with two large horn-like prominences in the males : the 

 latter convex, considerably widened in front, with the extreme posterior angles well-defined and 

 a little prominent, and with a vei-y minute abbrenated impression on either side (near the 

 margin) behind. Elytra subdepressed and punctate-striated; the interstices most minutely 

 punctulated (the punctures having a shght tendency to be arranged in rows). Legs, and 

 antenna at apex, a little paler than the rest of the surface. 



Unquestionably an introduced insect from more northern latitudes ; never- 

 theless it has been long a resident in the island, since Fabricius says of it in 1801, 

 " Habitat in Madera frumentum destruens." His original specimens, described in 

 1798, were from Tangier, and it is recorded by M. Lucas as occiu'ring beneath the 

 bark of trees in Algeria ; so that it is not impossible that the southern Mediterra- 

 nean limits may have been one of its original centres of diffusion,— even though it 

 be now uatm-alizcd throughout a large portion of the ci\"ilized world. In ^ladeira 

 it would seem to be confined to houses and granaries in and around the towns, 

 where it is at times tolerably abundant. In May of 1850, however, I captiu'ed a 

 single example even on the Dezerta Grande ; but since it was found in the imme- 

 diate Wcinity of my tent, I believe it to have been accidentally imported thither, 

 with provisions, from Funchal. 



