found in the Atlantic Islands. lo 



been met with by Mr. Wollaston in TenerifFe and Gomera, of 

 the Canarian group, in the latter of which islands it Avas found 

 likewise by Messrs. Gray and Crotch. 



Var. /3 paulo angustior, prothorace obsoletius punctato, palpis arti- 

 culo secundo baud iufuscato, tibiis piceo-rufis. Long. 2|- Hn. 



Inhabits the Canaries, the single example (before me) which 

 I have described as the " var. /S," having been taken by Mr. 

 Wollaston in Fuerteventura. 



Var. y supra fuseo-testaceus, prothoracis limbo dilutiore, capita 

 nigro maculis duabus magiiis rufo-testaceis, palpis articido se- 

 cuudo basi iufuscato, tibiis tarsisque fusco-testaceis. Loug. fere 

 31in. 



Inhabits the Canaries, having, like the " var. ;S," been found 

 by Messrs. Wollaston and Gray in Fuerteventura. 



Var. I "var. y" similis, prothorace elytrisque magis infuscatis, palpis 

 totis testaceis. Long, vix 2|- lin. 



Inhabits the Madeiran archipelago, having been captured 

 by Mr. Wollaston abundantly in the island of Porto Santo, 

 where it swarms along the edges of the half-di-ied brackish 

 streams. 



I hope I may prove correct in referring the type of this 

 apparently variable species to the P. jjolifus, Kiist. Kiister's 

 description, however, indicates the sculpture of the elytra as 

 much more distinct than it would appear to be in the Atlantic 

 examples before me. But I have, at any rate, Spanish ones 

 from Carthagena (the very locality from which Kiister's spe- 

 cimens of P. jjolitus were obtained) agreeing in every respect 

 with the particular form from the Canary Isles which I have 

 above regarded as the t^j^e of the species. 



A specimen of the " var. S " was many years ago identified 

 by Dr. Aube as P. melanocejjhalus^ Oliv., from which spe- 

 cies nevertheless it is entirely distinct. On the strength, 

 however, of this determination, Mr. Wollaston admitted P. 

 melanocejihalus into his list of Atlantic Coleoptera ; but in 

 reality we have no evidence as yet of its occurrence in any of 

 those sub- African islands. The description of P. atJanticus^ 

 Blanchard, in ' Voy. au Pole sud,' Zool., tome iv. p. 51 (A. D. 

 1853), I am unable to refer with certainty to any species or 

 variety at present before me ; but it is said to inhabit TenerifFe. 



I Avould also remark that it is not altogether impossible that 

 some one (or perhaps more) of the forms which I have here 

 treated as varieties of P. 2^olit2is may prove eventually to be 

 a distinct species. 



