Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Halticidae of the Canary Islands. 5 



niedio subaiigulato ; elytris deuse subrugose et sat prof'unde puuctatis, 

 distiucte (prfesertim versus latera) longitudinaliter striatis, testaceis, 

 sutura et maculis duabus (una sc. parva humerali, et altera majore sub- 

 rotundata centrali) in singulo positis ornatis ; antennis basi rufo-testa- 

 ceis, apicem versus nigresoentibus ; pedibus testaceis, fenioribus posticis 

 apice nigris. 



Long. Corp. lin. I5-H. 



3Ias, tarsorum anteriorum articulo basilari sat dilatato. 



Habitat in foliis Ecliiorum (prsesertim E. simpHcis) in locis editioribus 

 Tenerift'fe et Hierro. 



Before examining critically this beautiful Longitarsas, I had re- 

 garded it as a mere topographical state of the Madeiran L. Masoni 

 (the L. Isoplexidis, Ins. Mad. 443, tab. 9. f. 4) ; for, being attached 

 principally to a gigantic EcMum closely related to the E. candicans 

 on which that insect subsists, being exposed, apparently, to much the 

 same external conditions as its ally, and ornamented vs^ith almost 

 the same colouring, I did not imagine it probable that the small 

 prima facie differences which it presented would be anything more 

 than such as we might reasonably look for, as the result of local 

 influences, in the same species inhabiting islands so separated from 

 each other as Madeira and Teneriffe. Nevertheless, on a nearer 

 inspection, the L. persimilis possesses such a number of minor cha- 

 racters peculiarly its own, that I cannot feel justified, despite the 

 many points of resemblance in the two insects, in regarding them as 

 otherwise than truly distinct, though clearly members of the same 

 geographical province. The Canarian species may be readily known 

 from the Madeiran one by its uniformly smaller size, rather shorter 

 and more lunulate prothorax (which is a little more trimcated in 

 front, and has the hinder angles more rounded-off, and the sides 

 somewhat more angulated in the middle), and by its entire sculpture, 

 which is denser and very much more coarse, especially on the elytra 

 (which are also more evidently striated than is the case in the 

 L. Masoni). Its elytra also are slightly more truncated at their 

 apex, its whole surface much less opake, and its coloration is alto- 

 gether a little different, — its head being less black, or more piceous, 

 its prothorax more evidently rtt/o- testaceous, its legs and elytra not 

 quite so pale, and the dark portions of the latter smaller in size ; 

 ?'. e. the humeral and discal patches are, both of them, reduced in 

 dimensions, and the sutural line is equal thi'oughout, being scarcely 

 (if at all) expanded posteriorly, whereas in the L. Masoni it is regu- 

 larly hastate or spear-shaped. Its limbs, moreover, are shorter and 

 less robust. It seems almost confined to the foliage of a large 



