500 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



which our present representatives fall) has the ^yings comjiaratively large, and 

 adapted for flight. I am not aware whether the Gonocephala are invariably so 

 constituted, l)ut I have observed that the males of one at any rate of the Madeu'an 

 members of the group (namely the common G.fuscion) display a singular struc- 

 tm'e in the basal joint of theii- intermediate feet, which is thickly pectinated on the 

 under side with powerful bristles, — incUiied backwards (or in an opposite direction 

 to the rest of the tarsal setae). 



380. Opatrum fascum. (Tab. XI. fig. 1.) 



O. nigrum fusco- vcl subfulvescenti-pubescens, prothorace punctato, ad latera subrecto ad basin valde 

 sinuato, elytris vix parallelis subpunctato-striatis. 

 Mas, paulo minor, tarsis intermediis articulo basilari subtus retrorsum pectinato-setoso. 

 Long. Corp. liu. 3^-4. 



Opatrum fuscvm, Herbst, Kaf. v. 225. t. 52. f. 1 (1793). 



tomentosum, Dej. Cat. (.Si^""' edit.) 214 (1837). 



septentrionale, Faldennaim, in lift. 



Habitat in aridis maritimis insularum Maderensiuni, sub lapidibus, ubique frequens. 



O. dull black, and densely clothed with a rigid, decumbent, fuscous, or dirty-falvesceut pubescence. 

 Head and prothorax deeply punctured ; the lattei- short, with the sides (although oblique) nearly 

 straight, or but very slightly rounded, and with its basal margin greatly sinuated. Elytra more 

 or less parallel, but usually a little wider behind the middle than anteriorly ; rugulose (especially 

 about the shoulders), and deeply striated, the stria; being subpunctate. Scutellum, antenna 

 (except theu' extreme ajjcx, which is ferruginous), and legs, varying from dark piceous into piceo- 

 ferniginous. 



An abundant insect in Mediterranean latitudes, and occm'ring also in the 

 Canary Islands and the Cape de Verdes. It is subject to considerable variation, 

 not only in bulk, but likewise in the colour and density of its pubescence ; and it is 

 probably owing to this that so many species, so called, have been erected upon it. 

 It may frequently be observed indeed entirely denuded of pUe, under which cir- 

 cumstances it presents a very different appearance, at first sight, from the ordinary 

 tjq^e. Its peculiarities however of sculpture and form, in conjunction ^nth the 

 remarkable recurved bristles on the under side of the basal joint of its interme- 

 diate male foot, "noil always succeed, on further examination, in identifying it. It 

 is found throughout the greater portion of the Madeu*an group, though principally 

 at low elevations and in spots near the coast. In the vicinity of Punchal it is at 

 times common in vineyards and other cultivated grounds, as well as in hot exposed 

 localities facing the sea. I have also cajjtm-ed it on the Dezerta Grande ; and, in 

 the utmost profusion, on the sandy districts of Porto Santo (behind the beach) to 

 the westward of the Ciddde, — dm-ing April and May. 



