the Atlantic Cosson ides, 391 



in tlie conclusions which I have drawn, I may add that, had 

 I not mounted in balsam many specimens of the legs for micro- 

 scopic observation, and thus fixed them in so transparent a 

 medium that their inner structure became visible, I do not think 

 I could have offered any explanation of a foot which seemed to 

 have notliing in common with the ordinary Coleopterous type. 



Whilst examining the tibiae; and tarsi of this Canarian " mon- 

 ster"* (in balsam) under the microscope, one might almost imagine 

 (however fancifully) that one could trace out the mode of its de- 

 velopment in arriving at its present erratic climax; for it would 

 seem as if the tibiae had been gradually increased by a narrow, 

 compressed, lateral, spinulose mavgmaX-appendage, which had be- 

 come so enormously developed at the tip as to have almost 

 doubled the original length of the limb, — so that the tarsi, which 

 are implanted into the apex of the true tiblge, arise immensely be- 

 hind the lobed termination of what I may be perhaps permitted 

 to call (by way of illustration) the pseudo-ixhisc. In the front- 

 legs (19, 2 b), which are excessively short, this compressed marginal 

 rim is hardly at all developed along the edge, — where it is just 

 traceable (under a high power) as a hair-like line armed with one 

 or two rudimentary infinitesimal spines ; bat at the apex it is pro- 

 duced into a long, obtuse, roof-shaped lobe,'!* or finger, concave 

 beneath and far exceeding the tarsus in length, — which is conse- 

 quently entirely hidden when viewed from above. In the four 

 hinder tibia3 (19,2c, 2d) this compressed lateral "appendage" is 

 much more developed, and powerfully spinulose along its outer 

 edge ; and at the apex it is greatly enlarged, — stretching out, 

 moreover, into elongated lobes which occupy the relative positions 

 of the internal and external angles of the " true" tibia, and which 

 almost conceal from observation the basal joint of the tarsus 

 (which arises out of the latter). 



Thus much for the tibia?, — the structure of which, however 

 anomalous (especially for the Khynchophord), is intelligible enougij. 

 Not so, however, the feet, — which, although on a perfectly dif- 

 ferent type in the front-legs to what they are in the remainder, 

 may be all regarded as tetramerous,J the apical joint having either 



* Length, one line ! 



t This tecliform finger, or lobe, has a very beautiful appearance, even under an 

 ordinary lens, when seen in particular lights, — reflecting from its thin surface a 

 ricii sanguineous iiidescence. And indeed all the compressed spines, both of the 

 tibiaj and tarsi, show more or less of this pcculiaiity ; though, from liieir exces- 

 sively minute dimensions, it is in them less consjiicuous. 



% It may perhaps be said, that I have described from imperfect specimens, — 



