550 CAKAUIAN COLEOFIERA. 



After a careful inspection of many examples of this Oxypoda, found 

 in five different islands of the Group, it seems to me that it ought 

 not to be kept distinct from the European 0. exoleta; though, as it 

 is clearly conspecific with my 0. lurida, which occurs sparingly in 

 Madeira, this will necessitate the suppression of the latter name. In 

 the majority of the specimens now before me, the head, prothorax, 

 and elytra WlQ just perceptibly larger, or more developed, than is the 

 case in the ordinary English ones ; and as this was hkewise traceable 

 in the few Madeiran individuals which I possessed for examination 

 in 1857, 1 thought it safer to record them as the exponents of a closely 

 allied species. But further material has convinced me that these 

 differences are scarcely more than casual ones — or, even if permanent, 

 much too insignificant to indicate more than a shght geogi'aphical 

 modification of the insect. Indeed the species woidd appear to be 

 eminently variable in stature, so that a certain amount of instability 

 would naturally be anticipated in the development of its external parts. 



The narrow outline and rufo-ferruginous hue of the 0. exoleta (its 

 head and the intermediate segments of its abdomen being alone con- 

 spicuously darkened — though the elytra are always more or less ob- 

 scurely infuscated) will sufficiently distingiush it. I have taken it, 

 from beneath stones, between Haria and Mixgiii, in the north of 

 Lanzarote ; in the region of El Monte in Grand Canary ; above the 

 Puerto Orotava in Tenerifffe ; as well as in Palma and Hierro : and 

 several Teneriffan examples are now before me which were found 

 by Dr. Crotch. 



831. Oxypoda brevipennis, n. sp. 

 0. rufo-testacca, subopaca, dense sericco-pubescens, dense et minute 



punctulata ; capite angusto, ovato, oeulis minutis ; elytris brevissi- 



mis ; antennis pedibusque testaceis. — Long. corp. lin. 1. 



Hahitat in sylvaticis parum excelsis Teneriffae et Gomerse, sub foliis 

 dejectis necnon inter muscos, rarissima. 



The uniformly pale, rufo-testaccous hue of this singular Oxypoda, 

 combined with its narrow, ovate head, very minute eyes, and exces- 

 sively abbreviated elytra, will at once characterize it. It is a good 

 deal allied to the 0. formiceticola of more northern latitudes, but is 

 rather smaller, narrower, and paler, with its eyes still more diminu- 

 tive, its head much narrower, its prothorax relatively longer, its 

 punctation finer and denser, and its antennre somewhat less incrassated 

 towards their apex. It seems to be confined to the sylvan districts 

 of rather lofty elevations, where, however, it is decidedly rare. I have 

 taken it from beneath fallen leaves and moss in the laurel-woods 



