CANAEIAN COLEOPTERA. 95 



ficant Cercyon is a good deal allied to the common European C. me- 

 lanocephalum. It is, however, considerably smaller than that insect, 

 its punctuation is finer and less dense, and its elytra and limbs are a 

 shade paler (or more testaceous),— the former, moreover, having only 

 a slight tendency to be occasionally obscured about their scutellary 

 region, and with their striae somewhat deeper. Perhaps it is nearer 

 still to the C. terminatum, Mshm (= plagiatum, Er.). The only 

 specimens which I have myself captured (twelve in number) were 

 taken from beneath camels' dung, in the Rio Palmas of Fuerteventura, 

 at the beginning of April 1859 : I have, however, examined others, 

 taken by Dr. Crotch in Gomera. 



155. Cercyon nigriceps. 



Dermestes nigriceps, Mshm, Eni. Brit. 72 (1802), 



Sphaeridiiim centriraaculatum, Sturm, Deictsch. Ftui, ii. 23 (1807). 



Cercvon centrimaculatum, Miils., PaJjnc. tie France, 169 (1844). 



^' , Woll.,Ins. Mad. 104 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 34 (1857). 



Habitat Lanzarotam, Canariam, Teneriffam, Gomeram et Palmam, 

 in stercore bovino et equino baud infrequens. 



This common European Cercijon (which is universal in Madeira aiid 

 Porto Santo) occurs rather sparingly in these islands. I have taken 

 it in Lanzarote, Grand Canary, Teneriffe, and Palma, — in the last of 

 which it was likewise found by Mr. Gray, and in Teneriffe and Go- 

 mera by Dr. Crotch. 



156. Cercyon qnisquilium. 



Scarabfeus quisquilius, Linn., Fna Suec. 138 (1761). 

 Cercyon qnisquilium, 3Itds., Palpic. de France, 166 (1844). 



, JFoll, Ins. Mad. 105 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 34 (1857). 



Habitat Lanzarotam, Fuerteventuram,Tenerifiam, Gomeram et Pal- 

 mam, in stercore bovino, equino, camelino sat vulgare. 



Like the last species, the present Cercyon (which abounds through- 

 out the greater portion of Europe, and which occurs in Madeira and 

 Porto Santo) is widely spread over the Canarian Group, — where it is 

 probably universal. Hitherto, however, I have only observed it in 

 Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Teneriffe, and Palma ; in the first and last 

 of which islands it was also captured by Mr. Gray, and in Teneriffe 

 and Gomera by Dr. Crotch. 



