272 CAXARIAN COLEOPTERA, 



stating what it is not. Thus, its exceedingly perceptible scutellum 

 (when viewed beneath the microscope) at once removes it from the 

 P. caul'mm and p'lceus, whilst its sufficiently expanded third tarsal 

 joint will likewise prevent its confusion with the latter, and therefore 

 a fortiori with the simplicipes. It remains, therefore, only to point 

 out its distinctions from the laurineus ; and this, in its normal state, 

 is easily done, since it is not only less deeply sculptured, and with its 

 antennae somewhat darker and not quite so elongate, but its elytral 

 interstices are less convex, and its prothorax (like the var. /3 of the 

 laurineus) is more or less subalutaceous, and with its punctures a 

 little smaller and more dense," 



The P. ajjinis is, I believe, attached principally to the Euplwrhia- 

 stems of low and intermediate altitudes ; at all events I have taken 

 it in such situations at Taganana, and the Agua Mansa, in TeneriflPe ; 

 as also, at a very slight elevation above the sea-level, in the district 

 of El Golfo, on the western side of Hierro. The specimens from 

 Hierro (corresponding to the " var. /3. proximus" of my Paper) have 

 their elytral interstices a trifle more elevated and their jirothorax 

 (when viewed beneath the microscope) not perceptibly alutaceous ; 

 but I think they merely represent a slight variety of the TenerifFan 

 species. 



439. Phloeophagus simplicipes. 

 Phloeophagus simplicipes, Woll., Trans. Ent. Soc. Land. v. 374 (1861). 



Habitat TenerifFam, arbores Fici antiquas in inferioribus perforans. 



In its dark hue and deeply sculptured surface the present PJiloeo- 

 phagus has every appearance, at first sight, of the laurineus, except 

 that it is a little smaller ; nevertheless on a closer inspection it will 

 be seen to have its third tarsal joint scarcely at all dilated or bilobed 

 — at any rate very much less so than is the case in that sjjecies ; 

 whilst, in minor particulars, its somewhat shorter scape, and just 

 perceptibly less ventricose elytra, the punctures of which avQ propor- 

 tionally still larger, should be noticed. In its habits also it is not 

 the same as that insect ; for whilst the P. laurineus occm's in damp 

 sylvan spots of intermediate and lofty altitudes, the only examples 

 (ten in number) which I have seen of the simplicipes were captured 

 from out of the dry, rotten wood of an old fig-tree, at the mouth of 

 the Barranco do Passo Alto, near S'"* Cruz, in Teneriffe, on an arid 

 slope only just elevated above the sea-level. It is probable, however, 

 that its attachment, in that particular locality, to the fig-ivee may 

 have been accidental ; though such, at all events, would imply that 

 its range is lower than that of the laurineus. 



