540 Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston on the 



either dark or piceous, in hue (more often the former) ; 

 and some of them have a very faint brassy tinge ; and, 

 unlike the Rhyncoli, certain of the species (though by no 

 means the majority of them) are sparingly pubescent. 

 They appear to be widely distributed over the world ; 

 and although specifically few in number throughout 

 Europe, they are rather unusually dominant in some of 

 the islands of the Atlantic archipelagos.* 



43. PSEUDOPHLCEOPHAGUS (nov. gen.}. This genus, 

 which is established to receive the Phlceophagus tenax 

 from Madeira and the Azores, combines in a remarkable 

 degree the structural peculiarities of Rhyncolus and 

 Phlceophagus, agreeing with the former in its more 

 parallel outline, less inflated body, and conspicuous (though 

 rather small, transverse, and sub-perpendicular) scutellum ; 

 but with the latter in its abbreviated metasternum, and in 

 its comparatively slender antennae and tarsi, the first of 

 which have (as in Phlceophagus) their second funiculus- 

 joint appreciably longer than those which follow it, and 

 their club enlarged and abrupt, whilst in the feet the basal 

 articulation is considerably lengthened, and the third one 

 minutely bilobed. In its greatly approximated anterior 

 coxae it is more on the Phlceophagus than the Rhyncolus 

 pattern, and in its sericeous surface it is likewise more in 

 accordance with (at any rate a certain section of) the 

 former ; but its coxas are, if anything, still less separated 

 than in even the Phlceophagi (the front ones being practi- 

 cally contiguous), whilst the minute keel, or lobe, of its 

 mesosternum (between the intermediate coxae) appears to 

 me to be more developed than in either of those groups. 

 Its type (the P. tenax) is a very common insect in the 

 higher elevations of Madeira, where it occurs in great pro- 

 fusion in the rotten wood, and beneath the bark, of old 

 trees, more particularly those of the laurel tribe ; and it 

 has been met with also in the Azorean archipelago. 



* The European P. aneopiceus is a less typical member of the group 

 than the various other species which I have examined ; for not only does 

 it recede in outline from the latter, but it has also manifest indications of 

 a scutellum, which, although not very easy to be detected, is certainly 

 appreciable. Indeed, I am not quite sure that it would not be more natural 

 to admit it (along with the tenax, from Madeira and the Azores) into the 

 genus PseudopMceophagus ; nevertheless since the characters alluded to are 

 not very pronounced ones, I will not disturb it in its usually-received 

 position. 



