76 MADEIRAN COLEOPTERA. 
by Dr. Le Conte, mainly, through the fact of its hinder feet being 
tetramerous,—the first and second joints being soldered together, so 
as to produce an elongated basal one. The Acriti occur principally 
beneath vegetable detritus, on the damp ground; but their minute - 
size and uniformly black hue render them somewhat difficult to 
detect. 
205. Acritus minutus. 
A. niger nitidus punctulatus, prothorace ad basin linea distincta e 
punctis plurimis composité instructo, prosterno utrinque incurvo, 
mesosterno antice rotundato et linea integra marginato, elytrorum 
striis obliquis fere obsoletis, antennis pedibusque fusco-ferrugineis. 
Long. corp. lin, 4—-vix 2. 
Hister minutus, Hbst, Nat. Syst. iv. 41. tab. 36. f. 4 (1791). 
» Gyll., Ins. Suec. i. 99 (1808). 
Abrzeus minutus, Hrich., in Klug Jahrb. 1, 208 (1854). 
Acritus minutus, De Marseul, in Ann. de la Soe. Ent. de France (Sime 
série), iv. 614 (1857). 


A, rounded-ovate, black, shining, and rather deeply punctured all 
over. Prothorax with an exceedingly distinct line of larger punc- 
tures (or confluent impressions) behind, which is arranged trans- 
versely, and arcuated in the centre: prosternum with the sides 
regularly and equally incurved, and therefore a little expanded 
both before and behind. Mesosternum slightly elevated, regularly 
rounded in front, and uniformly (though narrowly) margined 
along its entire edge ; separated from the metasternum by a row 
of deep punctures. Hlytra with scarcely any indications (even 
beneath the microscope) of oblique, interrupted strive. Antenne 
and legs fusco-ferruginous. 
Two specimens of the A. minutus were captured by myself, beneath 
vegetable detritus, in a sandy lane immediately outside the Cidade of 
Porto Santo, during May 1855; and a third has been lately com- 
municated from Madeira proper, by Mr. Mason,—taken by himself at 
the Jardim da Serra. The Porto-Santan ones have been carefully 
examined by Mr. Janson, who has paid considerable attention to the 
Abrei and Acriti, and who regards them as truly referable to the 
Hister minutus of Herbst ; and I have myself, also, closely overhauled 
them beneath the microscope, and can discover no appreciable differ- 
ence to warrant their separation from the common English species,— 
unless it be that they are perhaps a trifle smaller, and with their 
punctures just perceptibly deeper. The Madeiran example, how- 
ever, which corresponds entirely with the ordinary type, is a little 
larger than those from Porto Santo, and has its rudimentary elytral 
striz somewhat more perceptible. In the structure of their pro- and 
meso-sterna, the whole three accord exactly with De Marseul’s 
