6 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Halticidse of the Canary Islands. 



EcMum (wMch the Rev. R. T. Lowe informs me is probably the 

 E. simplex), much resembling, in general growth and aspect, the 

 Madeiran E. candicans, on which I have taken it abundantly at the 

 foot of the Organo rocks in the sylvan region above the Agua Mansa, 

 of TeneriiFe, nearly 5000 feet above the sea. It does occasionally, 

 however, occur on other and smaller plants of the same genus, on 

 one of which (I believe the E. violaceum) I captured it, during 

 February of 1849, on the hiEs to the west of Valverde, in the island 

 of Hierro. 



6. Longitarsus Messerschmidtice, n. sp. 



L, praecedenti valde aiBnis, sed vix minor et gracilior, sciJptiira subtiliore 



et colore paulo pallidiore elytris fere vel omnino immaculatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin, 1 — vix 1^. 

 Variat (rarior) elytris plaga parva central! in singulo posita (necnon 



interdimi etiam altera minore obsoletissima suffusa ad humeros) ornatis. 

 Habitat in foliis Ilesserschmidtics fruticosce in ins. TenerifFa et Hierro, hinc 



inde vulgaris. 



It is not without some Uttle hesitation that I regard the present 

 Longitarsus as distinct from the preceding one ; nevertheless, since 

 its normal fades is very dissimilar, and its habits different, I think 

 it is scarcely safe to amalgamate the two. Indeed, in its general 

 aspect it is so unlike the L. persimilis, that no one could ever suppose 

 them to be identical, did not an occasional (though very rare) variety 

 of the present insect make such a curious approach, in the arrange- 

 ment of its colouring, to its ally, as to lead one to suspect that it may 

 be but a phasis of the latter, gradually assumed through the adoption 

 of a totally different plant for its subsistence. Still this is but con- 

 jecture, and I therefore prefer treating the two as separate. In its 

 typical state, the L. Messerschmidtice is, on the average, a trifle 

 smaller and narrower than its ally, its sculpture is less deep, and it 

 is of a uniformly pale, brownish-testaceous hue. Its elytra, how- 

 ever (in which case the apex of its posterior femora are also dark), 

 have an occasional tendency to become clouded about their disk, 

 sutiire, and shoulders ; and in one or two highly coloured specimens 

 (out of many hundreds which I possess) the discal cloud assumes 

 the form of a small well-defined patch (and even the humeral one is 

 somewhat concentrated), — thus causing them to resemble very much 

 the paler examples of the L. persimilis. Such individuals, however, 

 are extremely scarce ; and even in them the lighter sculptui'e pre- 

 vails (as in the ordinary ones) ; and therefore, in spite of their prhim 

 facie approach to the last species, I must regard their connectiveness 

 as more apparent than real. So far as I have hitherto observed, the 



