538 Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston on the 



and of a greenish-brassy tint, somewhat resembling, at 

 first sight, according to Lacordaire, my Pentarthrideous 

 Acanthomerus conicollis, of St. Helena. It appears to be 

 very slightly sculptured anteriorly, but with the elytra 

 longitudinally punctured Uhe punctures being large in 

 front, but evanescent behind) ; its rostrum is said to be 

 short and cylindrical, with the antennas (which are slender) 

 inserted at about the middle point ; its anterior coxae are 

 but feebly apart, and the third joint of its feet is large and 

 bilobed.] 



41. CAULOTRUPIS (Wollaston, Ins. Mad. 308. 1854). 

 In a paper which I published, in 1861, on the ' Atlantic 

 Cossonides,' I expressed a doubt (vide Trans. Ent. Soc. 

 Lond. v. 375) as to whether Caulotrupis should be re- 

 garded as more, in reality, than a slight geographical 

 phasis of Phlceophagus peculiar to the Madeiran archi- 

 pelago ; and Lacordaire, taking advantage of this hesita- 

 tion on my part, did not scruple to cite it ( Gen. des Col. 

 vii. 342) as absolutely identical with that group. Yet a 

 more critical inspection of it than I had formerly been able 

 to bestow has convinced me, as at first, that it will be 

 better to treat it as generically distinct, more especially 

 since the presence, at the same time, of Phlceophac/us 

 proper in the Madeiran islands would seem to imply that 

 it can scarcely be a local development, at all events, of 

 that widely-spread type. Moreover the Caulotrupides 

 play so important a part in the Rhynchophorous fauna of 

 Madeira, where they attach themselves principally to the 

 old and decaying stalks of various shrubby plants (though 

 a few of them occur likewise beneath the bark of timber 

 trees), that there is an additional advantage in keeping 

 them separate ; and it is with the greater satisfaction 

 therefore that I am able to detect certain structural cha- 

 racters which I cannot but think, however small when 

 taken separately into- account, must fully warrant, when 

 combined, my original conclusions with respect to them. 



The Caulotrupides have a peculiar aspect, which, when 

 once seen, can scarcely fail to distinguish them, even 

 primd facie, from the Phlceophagi. Thus they are more 

 elliptical, or fusiform, in outline, much more lightly sculp- 

 tured (particularly as regards their prothorax), and have, 

 most of them, a greater or less tendency for a metallic 

 lustre, the terebrans, Chevrolatii and conicollis being 

 completely brassy. Yet, in spite of this, their surface 



