CANAEIAN COLEOPTER.V. 113 



zarote it was likewise found by M. Hartung, two of whose specimens 

 have been communicated to me by Dr. Heer ; but it is wrongly iden- 

 tified in his catalogue with the Nitidtda erytliropa of Marsham, — 

 from which it is totally distinct. All the individuals which I have 

 examined (47 in number) have their prothorax entirely concolorous 

 with the rest of their surface ; so that the state which is found occa- 

 sionally in Madeira with the edges of the pronotum testaceous would 

 appear to be quite aberrant, and one which perhaps does not exist at 

 the Canaries. 



188. Meligethes virescens, n. sp. 



M, angustulo-oblongus, convexus, a^neo-viridis, minutissime cinereo- 

 pubescens, profunde sed vix dense punctatus ; antennis pedibusque 

 piceo-ferrugineis, tibiis anticis leviter dilatatis, extus subtiliter 

 denticulatis (denticulis mox ante apicem longioribus). 



Var. /3 capite prothoraceque rufescentibus. — Long. corp. lin. §-vix 1. 



Habitat TenerifFam et Gomeram, floribus Messei'schmidtke fruticosoi 

 prgecipue gaudens. 



The present MeligeiJies is somewhat aUied, in colour and outline, 

 to the common European ilf. ceneus ; nevertheless it is smaller and 

 rather narrower than that insect, its surface is much more coarsely 

 (and not quite so densely) punctured, its antennce are relatively 

 shorter, and the denticulations of its front tibise are more distinct. 

 It possesses a curious tendency to have its prothorax occasionally 

 somewhat diluted in hue ; and in a sj)ecimen which was captured 

 by Mr. Gray in Gomera (during our visit to that island in February 

 1858) both the head and pronotum are bright rufous ; nevertheless 

 it is certainly nothing more than an extreme variety of the species 

 now under consideration. I have taken the M. virescens rather com- 

 monly between the Puerto and Villa of Orotava in TenerifFe, where 

 it is particularly attached to the fragrant blossoms of the Messer- 

 sclimidtia fruticosa. 



189. Meligethes tristis. 



Nitidula tristis, Schnpp., in litt. 



Meligethes tristis, Sturm, Deufsch. Fna, xvi. 40. t. 309, f. a, A, h (1845). 



, Woll, Ins. Mad. 124 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. 3Iad. Col. 41 (1857). 



, Hartung/, Oeolog. Verhdltn. Lanz. und Fuert. 141. 



Habitat in Canaria, Teneriffa, Gomera, Palma et Hierro, in locis 

 intermediis, passim. 



The European M. tristis (which is universal at Madeira) is sparingly 

 distributed over these islands, where it occurs principally in sylvan 

 spots of intermediate and rather lofty elevations. I have taken it in 



