CANARIAN COLEOPTERA. 401 



but it would certainly have been altogether impossible to recognize 

 the present Chrysomela in the absurd " diagnosis " (so called) given 

 of it by Fabricius. 



613. Chrysomela obsoleta. 



C. rotujidato-oblonga, crassa, obscure viridi-seneo-micans, ubique 

 (oculo fortiter armato) subtilissirae alutacea ; capite prothoraceque 

 minutissime et levissime punctulatis, hoc utrinque versus latera 

 postice impresso (imprcssione antice omnino evanescente) ; elytris 

 vage, parce et irregulariter subseriatim suboblique punctatis et 

 punctulis minntissimis intermediis paree irroratis ; antennis tar- 

 sisque nigro-piceis ; alis minutissimis, angustissimis, ad apicem 

 fusco-maculatis. — Long. corp. lin. 4-6. 



Chrysomela obsoleta, Brulle, in Webb et Berth. (Col.) 73 (1838). 

 , Hartung, Geolot/. Verhultii. Lanz. imd Fiuirt. 141. 



Habitat in TeneriiFa et Gomera, pra3scrtim in regionibus parum 

 elevatis sylvaticis, hinc inde hand infrequens. 



The obscure brassy-green hue of this large and thick Chrysomela 

 (which, however, is exceedingly variable in size), combined with 

 its very minutely (sometimes scarcely perceptibly) punctulated head 

 and j)rothorax (the latter of which is broadly margined, on either 

 side, only behind, — the impression becoming evanescent anteriorly), 

 and the small, distant, and widely scattered punctures of its elytra 

 (the larger ones of which have a tendency to arrange themselves in 

 suboblique longitudinal rows), wiU serve readily to distinguish it. 

 In its general aspect it is a little suggestive, at first sight, of the com- 

 mon European O. Banksii, though abundantly distinct when closely 

 examined. It is widely spread over Teneriffe, and in certain districts 

 (particularly sylvan ones of a rather high elevation) tolerably com- 

 mon. Thus, I have taken it in considerable numbers from under 

 the loose moss growing on the trunks of old trees on the summit of 

 the Las Mercedes range ; as also from beneath the outer fibre of dead 

 Euphorbias on the mountains between S"* Cruz and Laguna ; as well 

 as at Taganana, Souzal, the Agua Garcia, and the Agua Mansa. And 

 I have met with it, at even a low altitude, in the Barranco do Passo 

 Alto, near S'" Cruz ; in which locality, however, it had probably be- 

 come naturalized (either through the medium of floods or human 

 agency) from the heights above. It was also found by M. Hartung 

 in Teneriff'e, from whence additional specimens have been communi- 

 cated by the Barao do Castello de Paiva. It seems to exist likewise 

 in Gomera, for I have examined an indi^'idual which was captured 

 by Dr. Crotch at Hermigua*. 



* The C. ohsok'ta is cited by M. Hartung as coming even from Lanzarote : 



2d 



