Atlantic Coleoptera. 213 
at work, within a comparatively recent date, to dissemi- 
nate accidentally the myrmecophilous tribes,—I mean 
that of indirect human agency. Thus, to take an example, 
it was to me always an enigma how the anomalous Cossy- 
phodes Wollastoni, which is both apterous and nearly 
blind, could by any possibility have acquired the range 
which I have myself ascertained it to possess,—namely, 
from Madeira to the extreme south of the Cape Verdes ; 
for (in addition to Madeira proper, where it is far from 
uncommon around Funchal) I have captured it, always 
in company with the Weophthora pusilla, in Teneritte 
and Gomera at the Canaries, and in 8S. Iago and Brava 
of the Cape Verde group. In Brava it is indeed some- 
what abundant; and the Gcophthora swarms to such an 
extent on that remote little island, as to have become a 
downright pest,—the shingly beds of some of the half- 
dried streams (as, for instance, that of the Ribeira do 
Sorno) being literally, as it were, alive with it. Now we 
ascertained, when in Brava, that since the period of its 
occupation, numerous Madeiran families had emigrated 
thither, and had taken along with them the same taste 
for floriculture which is so striking a feature in the mors 
northern Group ; and it was easy to recognize around the 
Quintas of the Povoacao a large number of ornamental 
plants which had, without doubt, been imported, from 
time to time, from the gardens of Funchal. Now every 
consignment, of even a few plants or shrubs, would pro- 
bably be accompanied by the universal Madeiran ant, for 
garden-soil can hardly be collected, in the vicinity of 
Funchal, which is altogether free from it; and, along 
with the Mcophthora, we may be pretty sure that an 
occasional Cossyphodes must have found its compulsory 
way to Brava. Assuming, then, that the physical condi- 
tions were suitable for their development, both one and 
the other of the above-mentioned species would soon 
multiply, and more or less over-run the whole island. 
IT have thought it worth while to cite the above ex- 
ample because I believe that the transmission of roots, in 
boxes, from more northern latitudes, has been a most 
significant means of introducing species (perhaps hun- 
dreds of them) into most of the inhabited portions of 
these particular oceanic Groups ; and that the ants’-nest 
forms should, par eacellence, be amongst those which have 
TRANS. ENT. soc. 1871.—PaRT I. (MAY.) Q 
