528 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Mehe rugosus, Marsham, Ent. Brit. i. 483 (1802). 



autumnalis, Leach {nee Oliv. 1795), Linn. Trans, xi. 40. pi. n. f. 7, 8 (1817). 



-punctatus, Steph. ///. Brit. Ent. v. 68 (1832). 



rugulosa, BruUe, in Well et Berth. Hist. Nat. des Hes Canar. 70 (1839). 



Habitat Maderam australem, in locis similibus ac prsecedens, sed illo frequentior : in graminosis prope 

 Cabo Gerajao ab autuiiiiio usque ad ver novum prsedominat, necnon ad Praya Formoza depre- 

 hensit el. Dom. Heer. 



M. smaller and slenderer than the last species, deep black, and almost opake. Head and prothorax 

 roughly and unequally punctured (the punctures however smaller than those of the M. austrinus, 

 and mixed up with a short and dark rigid ])ubcscence) ; the former not quite so large, propor- 

 tioiiably, as in the last species, but more deeply channeled (the channel being nevertheless 

 usually more or less evanescent posteriorly) ; the latter a little narrower behind than in front, 

 and very uneven. Elytra less closely pitted than in the M. austrinus, — the irregularities taking 

 an undulatory, or wavy appearance. Lei/s and antennce slenderer than those of the last species. 



Found eithei' in company with or else in similar positions as the last species, 

 but more commonly. Nevertheless it does not appear to be very abimdant, nor to 

 occur beyond Madeii-a proper. I have taken it more frequently to the eastward of 

 Fiuichal than elsewhere, from the autumn to the early spring, — especially in 

 g-rassy sjoots on the cliifs towards the Brazen Head ; and it has been captured at 

 the Praya Formoza by Professor Heer. It is an insect of wide geographical range, 

 existing throughout the greater portion of Eiu-ope, the north of Africa, and in the 

 Canary Islands. 



401. Meloe flavicomus, Woll. (Tab. XIII. fig. i.) 



M. nigcr opacus et pube brc\i fulvescenti vestitus, capite prothoraceque leviter punctatis, illo pro- 

 funde canaliculato, hoc postice vix angustato supra inaquali, elytris leviter undulato-rugosis, 

 antennis pedibusque gracilibus. 



Long. Corp. lin. 4-7. 



Habitat insulas Maderenses, in Portu Sancto prsedomiuans : in Madera propria mihi nou ob\'ius, at 

 exemplar unicum nuper communicavit Dom. Rousset : in Deserta Grandi Maio exeuntCA.D. 1850 

 parce, sed in Portu Sancto mense Aprili a.d. 1849 (sub lapidibus circa oppidum) copiosissime, 

 collegi. 



"o" 



M. the smallest of the three species, and altogether the most slender, black, moi-e or less densely 

 clothed with a fine, short, silken, decumbent, fulvcscent, or dirty-yellowish iiile, and nearly ojjakc. 

 Head and prothoraa: rather more finely and regularly punctured than in the M. rut/usus ; the 

 former a little smaller, proportionably, than in either of the other species, and more deeply 

 channeled (the channel nearly always extending over the forehead posteriorly) ; the latter a little 

 narrower behind than in front, and very uneven. Elytra as in the last species, but generally not 

 quite so deeply waved. Legs and antenna slender. 



The present Meloe approaches nearer to the M. murinus (of Brandt and Erich- 



