INSECTA MADERENSIA. 595 



beneath a stone at tlie Praya Eormoza, near Funchal, on the 4th of Eebruary 

 1851, — the only instance of its capture, so far as I am aware, np to the present 

 period. 



Genus 206. MECOGNATHUS, Woll. (Tab. XIII. fig. 8.) 



Corpus, antenna (XIII. 8 a), pedes (XIII. 8 e) et instnimenta cibaria (XIII. 8 i, 8 e, et %d) fere ut in 

 Simio, sed oculi minutissimi ; elytra parva valde abbreviata subconnata ; al<B obsoletae ; abdomine 

 basin versus fortiter constrictum, ultra medium dilatatuiu ; mandibula (XIII. 8 b) longissimse 

 acutissimse ; et palporum maxillarium articulus uliimus obsoletus (baud observandus) . 



A firjKos longitudo, et yvddoi; mandibula. 



The singular insect from which the above characters are drawn out may perhaps 

 be but a geographical modification of Sunius ; nevertheless it presents so many 

 peculiarities of its own (amongst which its unusually minute eyes, excessively 

 abbreviated, small, and siihconnate elytra, its obsolete wings, and its much ante- 

 riorly-constricted and posteriorly-inflated al)domen should be especially noticed) 

 that I have preferred retaining it as distinct ; whilst in its greatly developed man- 

 dibles and the evanescent terminal joint of its maxillary palpi it still further 

 recedes from the ordinary meml)ers of that group. The fact, however, of two 

 normal Sunii being found in the Madeka Islands renders it probable that it is not 

 a local variation of the genus (such as we have had occasion to remark concerning 

 many other aberrations from central types), but that it is as much entitled to be 

 treated separately as either Bugilus or EcUaster. In its habits Mecognatkus is 

 precisely similar to Sunius, 



466. Mecognathus Chimaera, Woll. (Tab. XIII. fig. 8.) 

 M. ferrugineus, capite magno oblongo-subquadrato, elytris brevissimis vix pallidioribus, abdominis 



segmentis quinque baseos obscurioribus, antennis pedibusque pallido-testaceis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. l|-vLx 2. 



Habitat per Maderse regionem sylvaticam, sub lapidibus truncisque arborum prolapsis, rarissimus : in 

 locis valde bumidis prsedominat, usque ad 5500' s. m. aseendens. 



M. ferruginous. Head and prothorax very closely and rougbly punctured, and opake ; tbe former 

 large, and somewhat squarish-oblong, with the palpi pale testaceous. Elytra a shade lighter m 

 colouring than the head and prothorax, and (although equally roughened) not quite so distinctly 

 punctured ; almost as opake, and exceedingly short. Abdomen very much narrowed at the base, 

 and expanded beyond the middle ; obscured, except at the apex, — where it is more or less ferru- 

 ginous or testaceous. Antenna and legs pale testaceous. 



A truly indigenous insect, and apparently extremely rare,— though widely 

 distributed over the sylvan regions of Madeira (especially towards theu- upper 

 limits), to which it is exclusively confined. It occurs beneath stones and decaying 



4g2 



