1,98 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



tegra necnon ad angulos pilosa. Pedes validi : tibiis parce spinulosis ; anticis compressis dUatatis; 

 posterioribus ad apiccni externum acutis : tarsis heteromeris ; pusterioribus (sed prsesertim pos- 

 ticis) articulo prinio longiusculo. 



Alphitohius {=IIeterophaya of Dejcan's Catalogue, a.d. 1837) may be known 

 from its allies by its proportionaljly broader and more oblong form (in ■n-hicli 

 respect it approaclies the Opatridce), by the internally-serrated subapical joints of 

 its antennae, by its robust ligula (which however is scarcely so corneous as that of 

 Calcar), and by its spinulose tibiae, — the two front ones of which are slightly 

 expanded and compressed, though both the dilatation and spines are much less 

 distinct than is the case in Phaleria. Like those of so many of the Tenebrlonidm, 

 its hal)its are of a farinaceous or meal-infesting natiu-e ; and it has consequently 

 obtaiaed a wide geographical range, almost exclusively through the agency of 

 man. Nevertheless it is able to adapt itself to other cii'cumstances also, since it 

 is occasionally to be met with even beneath the bark of trees. 



379. Alphitobius diaperinus. 



A. niger vel nigro-piccus nitidus subconvexus, sat crebre punctulatus, prothorace brevi transverso, 



elytris punctato-striatis, antennis pedibusque rufo-piceis. 



Long. Corp. lin. 3. 



Tenehrio diaperinus, Kugelann, in Panz. Fna Ins. Germ. 37. 16 (1797). 



, niig. Kqf. Preuss. i. 115 (1798). 



ovatus, ilerbst, Eaf. viii. 16. t. 118. f. 8 (1799). 



diaperinus, Stui-m, Deutsch. Fna, ii. 232 (1S07). 



Alphitobius mauritanicus, Staph, (nee Fab. 1792) III. Brit. Ent. v. 11 (1832). 

 Heterophaya opatroiJes, Dej. Cat. (3'^™ edit.) 220 (1837). 



diaperina, Kedt. FnaAmtr. 591 (1819). 



Trogosita castaneipes, Sam. in litt. (teste Mus°. Brit".). 



Habitat in domibus pistrinisque Funchalensibus (ab alienis introductus), sat frequens. 



A. oblons:, black or piceous-black, shining, and somewhat convex. Head and prothorax rather closely 

 and very distinctly puuctulated; the latter short, transverse, slightly attenuated in front, and 

 with the sides nearly straight ; sinuated along the hinder margin, and generaDy rather pitchy 

 about the anterior angles. Elytra distinctly punctate-striated; and with the interstices minutely, 

 but not very densely, punctulatcd. Antenna and tegs rulb-piccous ; the former with their 

 extreme apex rather paler. 



A widely tlistributed insect throughout the world,— Ijciug subject, like so many 

 of the present family, to transmission amongst civUized countries in articles of 

 coimuerce. In :Madeii'a, where it has \xnquestionably been introduced from more 

 northern latitudes, it is at times sufficiently common,— being found principally in 

 the vicinity of bakehouses, on the floui- and meal of which it would seem, both in 

 the larva and imago states (though not exclusively), to subsist. As some con- 

 fusion has arisen in its nomenclatui-c (at any rate in om- owu country), on account 



