CAKAEIAN COLEOPXERA. 369 



I have observed it only in the laurel -forests on the north-eastern 

 mountains of Teneriffe — at Las Mercedes, Taganana, and towards 

 Point Anaga — where (like the Tarphii) it occurs beneath stones and 

 pieces of rotten wood in damp, shady spots. 



(Subfam. BEACHYDERIDES.)* 



Genus 216. HERPYSTICUS. 



Gemiar, Ins. ^lec. i. 413 (1824). 



The genus Herpiisticus (which seems to be peculiarly Canarian) is 



remarkable for the large and apterous insects which compose it, and 



which reside under stones in the most diy and barren places, — the 



only instance in which I have ever obsei'ved them elsewhere being 



on one occasion, at the Banda, in Palma, where they were tolerably 



common on the flowers of the Opuntia tuna, or Prickly Pear. Their 



antennte are exceedingly short; and the funiculus appears at fii'st 



sight to be only 6 -articulate, but this merely arises from the fact of 



* I may insert here, as its probable right location, a reputed Teneriffan 

 weevil, tlie original type of which has been lent uie by M. Chevrolat (in whose 

 collection it exists) — tlie Curcul/o cribrarius of Olivier. Schonherr, wlio (by 

 his own admission) never examined it at all, followed Dejean and placed it in 

 Geoncmus — to which, however, it clearly does not belong ; and I think it is far 

 more likely that M. Jekel's conjectxire is nearer the truth, that it should bo assigned 

 to the South-African genus Gatamonus [Schon., Mant. Cure. 422]. It does 

 not, however, accord precisely with the published diagriosis even of Gatamonus ; 

 nevertheless, in the absence of a type to judge from, I am content to cede it to 

 that group provisionally, — the following short description being sufficient, I think, 

 to determine at any rate the ajiecies (with which more particularly I am now con- 

 cerned). Although recorded by Olivier as a Teneriffan insect, I do not apolo- 

 gize for refusing it a place in this Catalogue except in a foot-note, because I 

 suspect that some mistake may have arisen as to the country from whence it was 

 obtained, and I am loth to admit anything into the body of the work wliich rests 

 upon doubtfid evidence. Considering the enormous mass of Canarian material 

 which has passed under my eye, I am at least in a position to offer an opinion as 

 to the iwohahility, or otherwise, of its supposed habitat being correct ; and I am 

 bound to add that it recedes so entirely from all the Eht/ncJiophorous tyj^es which 

 I have yet seen from these islands, that I cannot but believe that it must have 

 been erroneously referred to them. 



Gatamonus ? cribrarius. 

 G. elongato-ovatus, squamulis submetallico-fuscis et submetallico-cinereis densis- 

 sime tectus ; rostro longiusculo, obsolete tricarinato, apice subdilatato ; oculis 

 oblongis, demissis ; prothorace parvo, subtriangidari, rugoso-pimctato, angulis 

 posticis subrectis, obsolete canaliculato ; elytris profunde punctato-striatis, apice 

 singulatim acuminatis sed baud divaricatis, singulis intra apicem subgibbosis, 

 puncto discali medio albido ornatis necnon ad marginem obsolete subalbido- 

 irroratis, interstitiis alternis obsoletissime subelevatis ; antenuis pedibusque 

 longiusculis, subgracilibus. — Long. corp. liu. 6. 



Cm-culio cribrarius, Oliv., Ent. v. 83. 34S. tab. 24. f. 344 (1807). 

 Geoncmus cribrarius, Bej., Gat. (edit. 3) 284 (1837). 



, Schon., Gen. et Spec. Gurc. vi. 214 (1842). 



Habitat "in Teneriffa" (sec. cl. Olivier), mihi non obvius; forsan ex Africa 

 australi deportatus. 



2b 



