336 On a neio Insect Pest at Madeira, 



Whence it came is a matter for inquiry ; but if fresh banana 

 plants are ever imported, those who have been the means of 

 importing them will be best able to answer this question. 



But it is now time that I should state what the creature is 

 which is answerable for so much mischief to the plants in 

 question, and which bids fair to become a nuisance at Madeira 

 which cannot well be ignored. It is a large and black Calan- 

 drid (and therefore of the same family as the common, but 

 comparatively minute, weevils of the rice and corn), but be- 

 longing to Schonherr's extensive genus Sphenophorus. The 

 exact species appears to have been described by Fahrgeus in 

 1845, in the 8th vol. of the ' Gen. et Spec. Cure.,' under the 

 name of Sphenophorus striatxis ; and the country which he 

 cited for its hahitat is Brazil. There can be no doubt that it 

 belongs to a somewhat American type of form ; and it is 

 highly probable therefore that Brazil may have been its abori- 

 ginal area. But be this as it may, the insect now, although 

 certainly not cosmopolitan, has acquired for itself a wide inter- 

 tropical range, — for I have examined individuals at the British 

 Museum (emanating from no less than three different sources) 

 which were brought from India, and others (which seemed 

 hardly to differ) from Tasmania and Japan. I have no doubt, 

 therefore, that its modus vivendi and powerfully developed 

 wings have greatly facilitated its introduction into many 

 countries (sufficiently warm) of the civilized world, and that, 

 where plants are exported and interchanged, conditions are con- 

 stantly arising favourable for its accidental transport. And, 

 moreover, we have yet to learn that the banana is the only 

 plant to which it is liable to become attached. 



The following short diagnosis, drawn out from Madeiran and 

 Brazilian examples, may suffice to characterize the species : — 



Genus Sphenophorus. 

 Schonherr, Cure. Disp. Meth. 327 (1826). 



Sphenophorus striatus, 



S. ellipticus, niger ; capite parvo, nitido, impunctato ; rostro pro- 

 thoraceque nitidinsculis ; illo modice arcuato, ad (et praesertim 

 aute) basin, ?'. e. ad aDteniiariim inseitionem, ampliato-robusto, 

 inde ad apicem augustiore subcylindrico, postice dense et grosse 

 sed antice parciiis ac miilto levius punctato ; hoc longiusculo, 

 suboblongo, bas-i truncate, apice transversim constricto, et ubique 

 (sed praesertim versus latera) dense grosseque punctato ; elytris 

 plus minus cinereo-indutis, profunde varioloso-sulcatis, interstitiia 

 antice nitidis calvis ac uniseriatim puiictulatis : pygidio (pro- 



