12 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Anobiadse 



elytris subconnatis, prothorace conico antice producto, corpore sub- 

 globoso aptero hirtulo a generibus Anobiadum plerisque discedit. 



A (TTayerus, gutta. 



Until critically examining tbe two insects described below, I 

 had regarded tbem as members of the genus Dorcatoma ; but on 

 comparing them therewith, I perceive that they possess abun- 

 dant distinctive featui'cs of their own. Apart from their more 

 conical, anteriorly-produced prothoraces, and subglobose pilose 

 bodies — which, at first sight, much resemble those of Sijncahjpta 

 and other small exponents of the ByiThidce, — the structure of 

 their antennae is altogether dissimilar from that of Dorcatoma, 

 being not only distinctly 11-articulate (whilst those of the latter 

 have but ten* joints), but almost coincident with those of the 

 Anobia, except that the six intermediate articulations (between 

 the 2nd and 9th) are of totally different proportions and shape, 

 — the first three of them being slender and elongate (though 

 gradually decreasing in length), whilst the latter three are 

 thicker and subtriangular, being gradually more and more pro- 

 duced at their inner apical angle. Their 3-articulated club is 

 very long and lax, and almost without any tendency to have its 

 first two joints internally produced. In the construction of the 

 mandibles, maxillae, and ligula, they agree pretty nearly with both 

 Dorcatoma and Anobium, whilst their mentum and feet arc more 

 suggestive of the latter than of the former ; but, apart from the 

 details of their antennae and outward contour (which have been 

 just alluded to), in their very singular upper lip, obsolete wings, 

 and subconnate elytra, they recede entirely from both. 



1. Stagetus hirtulus, n. sp. 



S. niger, pube flavo-cinerea longiuscula suberecta vestitus ; prothorace 

 antice (oculo valde armato) remote punctate (punctis levissimis sed 

 magnis) ; elytris leviter striatis, striis versus latera obsolete sub- 

 crenatis ; antennis piceo-testaceis ; pedibus rufo-piceis. 



Long. corp. lin. 1-1 j. 



Habitat prope oppidum Valverde in ins. Hierro, mense Februario 

 1858 pares captus. 



The present insect and the following one are very nearly 

 allied ; but the S. hirtulus is perhaps a trifle the larger and more 



* Prof. Lacordaire, in his admirable work on the ' Genera of Coleoptera,' 

 states that these small intermediate joints in the antennae of Dorcatoma, 

 between the second and the club, are, from their minute size, most difficult 

 to count. In an English specimen, however, of the D. fiavicornis, the ])arts 

 of which I have lately mounted in balsam for the microscope, there are 

 unquestionably (and most distinctly) five of them — the first being about 

 half as long again as any of the others, and rather slenderer at its base, 

 whilst the remaining four are very short and closely connected inter se, — 

 making the whole antenna to be 10-articulate. 



