186 RHYNCHOPHORA. [ Cathormiocerus. 
and Madeira; it is extremely closely allied to Trachyphleus, but its 
members may be distinguished from the latter genus by having the 
ventral segments without scales and somewhat shining and the base of 
the seape dilated and produced into a prominence externally.* M. Bedel 
considers the latter to be merely a specific character and unites the two 
genera as one ; the two British species are extremely local. 
1. Antenne more slender; eyes less prominent; punctuation 
feebler; colour lighter ..... . Je snp) apm SOCLUS. “Een: 
IL. Antenne stouter ; eyes more prominent ; punctuation 
stronger ; colour darker Se eee pe ne ee RG: MART RIM OS. mice 
GC. socius, Boh. Oblong-ovate, pitch black, with the antenne and 
legs lighter ; upper surface with oreyish scales, ‘which are more close at 
sides and ae scanty in middle, as well as on under-side; rostrum furrowed ; 
scape of antenne long and stout, abruptly dilated externally almost im- 
mediately as it leaves the scrobe, scrobes broadly open in front if viewed 
from above ; thorax not much broader than long, with the sides rounded, 
very closely sculptured ; elytra with regular distinct punctured strie, 
interstices with erect whitish scale-like sete, which are more evident 
behind ; tibiz without distinct spines at apex. L. 23-3 mm. 
Sandy places; extremely local; introduced as British by Mr. Walton and rein- 
troduced by Mr. Rye on the authority of a single specimen taken by Mr. H. Mon- 
tague in the early part of the summer of 1867 at Freshwater, Isle of Wight; I 
took a single specimen in the spring of 1882 at the foot of the cliffs at Sandown in 
the Island; during the summers of 1887 and 1888 Mr. Champion has, however, 
taken a considerable number of specimens in the Sandown locality; its distribution 
is very strange, as it has been taken by Dr. Sharp at a great elevation, in the Sierra 
Nevada, at the margins of snow-fields ; M. Bedel records a single specimen from the 
neighbourhood of nests of Aphenogaster (a Ventour des fourmilieres d’ Aphenogas- 
ter), but I do not know whether his insect has been compared with our specimens ; 
he further says that C. maritimus is probably nothing but a variety of C. socius, 
which it certainly is not if our specimens are rightly named. 
C. maritimus, Rye. Allied to the preceding but flatter, darker, 
more strongly punctured, ana with the antenne more robust ; the head is 
wider and the eyes more prominent; the rostrum has the central longitu- 
dinal furrow not so evident ; the scape is not dilated until at some little 
distance from the scrobe, a rather conspicuous slender space intervening; 
the funiculus and the club are (comparing the same sexes) very dis- 
tinetly broader and stouter; the thorax is longer and more coarsely 
punctured ; the elytra are flatter, less ovate, with the sides a little 
straighter, and with the striz much more coarsely punctured, and the sete 
on the interstices are black, and not so stout or quite so long ; ee legs are 
darker, and the apex of the tibiz is scarcely so enlarged. lL. 23-3 mm. 
Bovahiants district, discovered by Mr. Moncreaff in the elena near sey ities: 
extremely local, at roots of grass, plantain, &e., and confined to a few square yards; 
it isa very difficult species to capture, as it tucks in its antenne aud legs and feigus 
death at times for half an hour, and it is the exact colour of the soil. 
* This applies to our species, but Mr. Rye (Ent. Monthly Mag. vii. 151), considers 
that the extreme development of the antenna in some Cathormioceri, being mostly 
sexual and not found inall the species, is not of much generic value. Bedel unites 
the genus with Trachyphleus, 
