^Ir. T. V. Wollaston on the Coleoptera of St. HtUna. 31 



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

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

 publishing my diagnosis of it in 1861, I stated that'' although 

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

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

 insect imder consideration with a long series of Atlantic forms 

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

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

 the remoteness of its island habitat renders it probable that it 

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

 winged Opatra (i. e. the Gonocephaki of Solier) are moulded 

 80 nearly on the same tj-pe, 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 l^e depended upon as the exact form 

 of the gencej 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 pro thorax. 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 roimded, 

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

 terior angles consequently less porrect 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 p>rimd 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. Alphitobius diaperinus*. 



Tenehrio diapennus, Kuorel., in Pnz. Fna Ins. Germ. 37. 1<5 (1797). 

 Alphitobius diaperinm, WoU.. Col. Atl. 419 (I860). 

 , 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 



