CANAKIAN COLEOPTEBA. 343 



533. Laparocerus excavatus. 

 L. niger, nitidus, fere calvus ; prothorace convexo, minutissime, dense 

 et levissime punctulato punctisqiie majoribus sed vix profundis 

 parce (in disco antico saepius parcissime) notato, fere simplici (i. e. 

 in medio \dx lineato); elytris basi subbisinuato-truncatis, callo 

 humerali valde incrassato, profimde punctato-striatis, interstitiis 

 minutissime transversim substriguloso-rugatis et punctis (versus 

 suturam parvis) remote obsitis ; antennis rufo-ferrugineis, pedibus 

 rufo-piceis. 

 Mas saepius subiiitidior, tibiis anticis intus versus apicem profunde 



excavatis, posticis fortiter sed parce serratis. 

 Foem. ssepius subopacior, tibiis fere simplicibus. 

 Var. /3. lugahris [an species?]. Paulo major, opacior et fere omnino 

 (etiam ociilo fortissime armato) calvus ; prothorace densius punc- 

 tate ; elytrorum interstitiis magis asqualibus punctulisquo minoi'i- 

 bus adspersis. — Long. corp. lin. 4-5i. 



Laparocerus excavatus, JVoll., Ann. Nat. Hist. xi. 219 (I860). 

 Habitat in montibus sjlvaticis TeneriflPae, prsesertim inter muscos 

 et Hchenes ad truncos arborum crescentes, necnon sub ligno marcido 

 latens. 



The present insect, which has been observed hitherto only in Tene- 

 riife, is essentially a sylvan one, — the few examples which I have met 

 with in more barren spots being, as I should imaghie, the result of an 

 accidental transportation, either through the instrumentality of floods 

 or other contingencies. Thus, for instance, it is rather common on the 

 damp laurel-clad mountains at Las Mercedes (beneath stones, pieces 

 of wood, and under moss and lichen growing upon the trunks of 

 trees); and on one occasion I captured a stray specimen, at an alti- 

 tude only slightly higher than that of S''' Cruz, even towards the en- 

 trance of the Barranco do Passo Alto — ivliicli, however, takes its rise 

 in the Las Mercedes ratige. But in the forest districts of intermediate 

 and rather lofty elevations it appears to be pretty widely spread over 

 the island. On the sylvan slopes above Taganana and Point Anaga, 

 as well as at the Agua Garcia, it is by no means scarce. 



The L. excavatus may be recognized by its dark, shining, and (except 

 under a high magnifying power) almost glabrous surface — there being 

 only a few longer hairs at the apex of its elytra ; by its convex pro- 

 thorax, which is a good deal rounded at the sides, most minutely, 

 finely, and densely pimctulated, and with larger and deeper punctures 

 (which are usually more or less obsolete on the anterior disc) sparingly 

 intermixed ; by the front tibiae of its male sex being deeply scooped 

 out internally, whilst the hinder pair are powerfully crenulated ; and 

 by its elytra being somewhat bisinuated along their basal edge, with 



