CANARIAN COLEOPTERA. 497 



743. Pseudostene fossoria. 



P. lineari-angusta, picea vel iiigro-picea, nitida ; capite dense rugu- 

 loso, antice ferrugineo, genis rotundatis (uec ante oculos exstanti- 

 bus) ; prothorace magno, convexo, antice latiore, ad latera oblique 

 subrotundato, sat profunde punctato ; eljiiris angustioribus, subcy- 

 lindricis, leviter transversim rugulosis, tenuiter sed distincte punc- 

 tulato-striatis, interstitiis minute punctulatis ; antennis pedibusque 

 pallida rufo-ferrugineis, tibiis anticis valde dilatatis. — Long. corp. 

 lin. 1|— vix 1^. 



Pseudostene fossoria, Wall., loc. cit. 250 (1861). 



Habitat Lanzarotam, in salinis necnon sub confervis per oram ma- 

 ritimam arenosam fodiens. 



In my Paper (above referred to) in the * Ann. of Nat. Hist.' for 

 1861, I described three nearly allied species of this genus — the P. 

 angusta (from the Cape de Yerdes) , the present one, and the P. sub- 

 clavata (from Egypt). And, alluding to their habits, I there stated 

 that they " would seem to be more or less fossorial, living under sea- 

 weed on sandy shores, or in other salt places — a mode of Kfe which 

 their largely dilated anterior tibife, accompanied by a considerable 

 development of the prothorax, would prima facie indicate." In such 

 situations I detected the P. fossoria, during the spring of 1859, in 

 Lanzarote — both to the south of Arrecife (beneath marine rejecta- 

 menta) and at the Salinas (or salt-works) in the extreme north of the 

 island. It would appear, howevei", to be excessively rare*. 



Genus 281. ALPHITOBIUS. 



Stephens, HI. Brit. Ent. v. 11 (1832). 



744. Alphitobius diaperinus. 



Tenebrio diaperinus, Kugel., in Panz. Fna Ins. Germ. 37. 16 (1797). 



■ ovatus, Hbst, Natursyst. viii. (1799). 



Heterophaga opatroides, Dej., Cat. (edit. 3) 220 (1837). 

 Uloma opatroides, Bridle, in Webb et Berth. (Col.) 70 (1838). 

 Alphitobius diaperinus, Woll., Ins. Mad. 498 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 154 (1857). 



, Crypticus opatroides ?, Hartung, Geolog. Verhdltn. Lanz. und Puert.142. 



Habitat Canariam et Teneriffam, in domibus mercatorumque repo- 

 sitoriis, ex alienis introductus. 



This widely spread insect has been introduced into these islands, 

 as at Madeira, occurring sparingly about houses, and amongst fari- 



* The P. angusta, from the Cape de Verdes, is just perceptibly narrower than 

 its Canarian ally ; its prothorax is a trifle less convex, and rather straigkter both 

 along its lateral and basal edges (causing the posterior angles to be somewhat less 

 obtuse) ; and its elytra are more lightly striated : but I am exceedingly doubtful 

 whether it is more than a mere state of the fos.so)ia. 



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