INSECTA MADERENSIA. 609 



Throughout all the Madeiran Coleoptera there is perhaps no insect so abvmdant 

 or universal as the O. complanatus, — which, although scarcer in the mountain 

 districts, does nevertheless ascend to the svunmits of the peaks, AvhUst in the 

 lowest elevations it literally teems. In the neighbourhood of Funchal it is to be 

 met mth everywhere, though its head-quarters may be said to be upon the beach, 

 or amongst vegetable refuse in the immediate vicinity ; and it may be frequently 

 captured on the wLng, both in the town itseK and in the gardens and vineyards 

 which surround it. In the north of the island it is not quite so connnon, though 

 at times sufficiently numerous at Sao Vincente and Santa Anna ; and during July 

 of 1850 I obsei'ved it in profusion thi'oughout the upland Serras bordering on the 

 Cruzinhas, — 5000 feet above the sea. It may be easily recognised by its greatly 

 flattened, opake, and densely strigulose surface, by its elytra being scarcely more 

 diluted in hue than the rest of the body (at least this is the case with the Madeiran 

 specimens, which are rather darker in this region than the ordinary ones), and by 

 its anteriorly-rounded and altogether more even forehead. It occurs in most parts 

 of central and southern Europe, but appears to be rarer than many of the allied 

 members of the genus. 



476. Oxytelus nitidulus. 

 O. angustiusculus niger nitidulus, capite prothoraceque profunde sed parcius subruguloso-punctatis 



(illo pone clypeum fortiter transversim foveolato), elytris longitudinaliter strigulosis testaceo- 



piceis, pedibus testaceis, abdomine in utroque sexu fere simplice. 

 Long. Corp. liu. 1-1:^. 



StapTiylinus pieeus, Sclirank (nee Liun. 1767), JEimm. Ins. Austr. 236 (1781). 

 Oxytelus nitidulus, Gray. Col. Micropt. 107 (1802). 



, Eriuh. Gen. et Spec. Staph. 795 (1839). 



• , Heer, Fna Col. Helv. i. 206 (1841). 



Habitat Maderam Portumque Sanctum, prsesertim iu locis subinferioribus, Line inde minus frequens. 



O. small, ratter narrow, black, and a little more sbining tban any of the preceding species. Head 

 and jirothorax deeply but rather sparingly punctured, and slightly longitudinally-strigulose : the 

 former (which is a little larger in the males than in the females) with a very indistinct and 

 abbreviated central impressed line behind ; with its extreme edges slightly raised, straightened 

 over the eyes, but the anterior angles a little better defined, and the front margin somewhat more 

 truncated, than is the case with the 0. complanatus ; with a deep transverse fovea immediately 

 behind (and of the same width as) the clypeus, — which is consequently raised at the base (though 

 deflexed in front) : the latter trisulcated down the disk (the outer grooves being slightly flexuose, 

 but indistinct) ; and widely impressed towards its sides. Elytra varying from testaceo-piceous 

 into nearly black ; and longitudinally-strigulose. Abdomen almost simple in both sexes. An- 

 tenrue considerably shorter than the head and prothorax, black. Leys diluted-testaceous. 



A common European Oxytelus, — and recorded by Erichson from Egypt, South 

 America and Mexico. It does not seem to be very abundant in these islands, 



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