Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 31 



where, according to Mr. Melliss, it is often peculiarly grega- 

 rious in cultivated spots, especially the potato-grounds. When 

 publishing my diagnosis of it in 1861, I stated that " althougli 

 unwilling to erect a new species in such an extensive and ob- 

 scure genus as Ojyatrum^ yet, after a careful comparison of the 

 insect mider consideration with a long series of Atlantic forms 

 (from Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verdes, and the Cape 

 of Good Hope), I am induced to do so in this instance, since 

 the remoteness of its island hahitat renders it probable that it 

 will be fomid to be peculiar to St. Helena. The whole of the 

 winged 0])atra {i. e. the GonocejjJiala of Solier) are moulded 

 so nearly on the same type, that small differences which might 

 be disregarded in many groups become important with them ; 

 and, after a close examination, I am convinced that there are 

 no characters so much to be depended upon as the exact form 

 of the gence^ or dilated sides of the head immediately in front 

 of the eyes, and the relative depth of the emargination (in- 

 volving the greater or less acuteness of the anterior angles) of 

 the prothorax. The 0. hadroides is very nearly akin to a 

 species which was taken by Mr. Bewicke at the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; but it is altogether rather larger, broader, and more 

 parallel, its head is a little wider, with the gence more rounded, 

 its prothorax is less deeply scooped-out in front, with the an- 

 terior angles consequently less pon-ect and more obtuse, the 

 hinder angles also are somewhat less produced, and its shoul- 

 ders are more rectangular. Although narrower and on a 

 smaller scale, it has a slight prima facie resemblance, in ge- 

 neral contour, to the more parallel-sided Hadri of the Madeiran 

 group — a circumstance which has suggested its trivial name." 



Fam. 25. Ulomidae. 



Genus 44. Alphitobius. 

 Stephens, 111. Brit. Ent. v. 11 (1832). 



67. AljjJiitohius diaperinus'^ . 



Tenehrio diapet-irms, Kup^el., in Pnz. Fua Ins. Germ. 37. 16 (1797). 

 Alphitobius diaperiiim, WoU., Col. Atl. 419 (1865). 

 , Id., Col. Hesp. 208 (1867). 



Judging from the specimens which were taken by Mr. Mel- 

 liss, the widely spread A. diaperinus has become established 

 in St. Helena, as is the case with it in the Madeiras, Canaries, 

 Cape-Verdes, and Ascension, and indeed throughout the greater 

 portion of the civilized world ; but I need scarcely add that it 



