582 INSECTA MADERENSIA. 



Likemse an abundant Pinion thus throughout Eiu'ope, and recorded by Erichson 

 as having been received from South America. It is decidedly rare in !Madeu'a 

 (where however it would appear to be truly inditjenous), four specimens only 

 having hitherto come beneath my notice, — captured by myself, from amongst wet 

 mud, at the edges of a minute stream at Santa Anna (in the north of the island^, 

 Avhich finds its way across the road leading from the Quinta of Senhor Louiz 

 Acciaioly down to the sea. It may be recognised from the other Madeii'an Phi- 

 loiithi by its rather broad and rounded head, more or less aeneous and finely punc- 

 tulated el}i:ra, by its somewhat long and basally-picescent antenniie, diluted palpi, 

 and by its piceo-tcstaceous legs. 



453. Philonthus sordidus. 

 P. subangustus niger vcl nigro-seneus, capite subovato, elytris subviridescenti-seneis parcius et pro- 



funde punctatis, pedibus piceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. vix 3. 



Staph ijlinus sordidus, Grav. Col. Micropt. 176 (1802). 



, I^ranii. Brachel. 29 (18.31). 



Philonihus sordidus, Ericli. Gen. et Spec. Staph. 456 (1839). 

 Sfapht/linus soi-didus, Zett. Ins. Lapp. 63 (1810). 



Habitat propc urbcm Maderse Funchaleusem, in stercorc bovino, sat vulgaris ; nccnon iu ins. Deserts; 

 Grandis parce obscrvavi. 



P. rather narrow, and black. Head and prothorax almost as in the last species, except that they are 

 perhaps even more highly polished still, and generally with an obscure sencous tinge; and that 

 the former is less rounded (being subovate), and has the four punctures between its eyes almost 

 equally distant from each other, — instead of the two inner ones being wide apart. Elytra a little 

 shorter in proportion than those of the P. unihratilis, as also rather more shining and of a more 

 evidently greenish-reneous tinge ; more decj)ly and less closely punctured than in any of the 

 other species here described. Antenna a little shorter and less robust than those of the P. um- 

 bratilis, and usually entirely blaek. Legs piceous. 



Rather common near Funchal, in the dung of cattle, during the autumnal and 

 winter months, — princi})ally below the elevation of about 2000 feet. I have taken 

 it on the grassy slopes towards the Cabo Gerajao, or Brazen Head, more abimdantly 

 than elsewhere. Like the previous two species, it is universal throughout Europe, 

 and may perhaps have been introduced into these islands from more northern 

 latitudes. If such be the case, however, it has at any rate completely established 

 itself, since in INIay of 1850 I detected it even on the Dezerta Grande. Apart from 

 other characters, the deep and comparatively remote punctuation of its elytra, in 

 conjunction ^\\W\ its extremely glossy sm-face and the nearly equally distant 

 punctures across its (subovate) head, w\\\ readily distinguish it from its IVIa- 

 deiran allies. 



