XXXIV 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Homalota vagepunctata (C.). 

 Xantholinus marginalis (C.). 

 Dolicaon nigricollis (C.). 



Dolicaan rujicollis (C.). 

 *Homalium tricolor (M.). 

 clavicorne (M.). 



I should add that it is under the dead bark, and within the rotten 

 wood, of the various Euphorbias that the whole of the above-men- 

 tioned species have been obtained; and although there are a few 

 others (mentioned, passim, in this volume) which have been found 

 on the blossoms of those plants, and which may or may not be pecu- 

 liar to them (for I have no evidence enabling me to decide), there is 

 but one which I have succeeded in satisfying myself lives exclusively 

 upon the foliage namely, the Haltica Paivana. It is possible 

 however that the Longitarsus Tdeiniiperda may be in the same pre- 

 dicament ; on which subject, see my remarks at page 367. 



Pine-destroying Species. In Madeira I think it is extremely doubt- 

 ful whether the pines were truly aboriginal or, at all events, whether 

 they ever played an important part amongst the native vegetation ; 

 for although there are now considerable tracts, on the southern 

 and eastern slopes of the mountains, which are covered with them, 

 it is well known that the extensive woods to which I refer are com- 

 paratively recent, the trees having been brought, at various times 

 and in large numbers, from Portugal. Still, I am not prepared to 

 assert that even the Pinus canariensis may not have been indigenous 

 in Madeira (though possibly not abundant) when the island was 

 first discovered ; and if this should prove to be the case, it will un- 

 questionably give greater significance to the very few pine-infesting 

 insects which yet exist (tenanting the present plantations), but which 

 I am rather disposed to believe have in reality been introduced during 

 the last half-century, and perhaps along with the young trees them- 

 selves, from south-western Europe. In the Canarian Group, how- 

 ever, it is far otherwise ; for there the ancient pine-forests (or Finals) 

 constitute a most conspicuous feature in the districts of a lofty al- 

 titude, and are often so remote and difficult of access as to be scarcely 

 approachable. It is true that in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura there 

 are not (and perhaps indeed never were) any traces of them ; but in 

 the more central and western islands they frequently clothe consi- 

 derable tracts at any rate in Grand Canary, Teneriife, and Palma 

 (for in Gomera and Hierro they are being fast exterminated). 



After the above remarks it will not be expected that the pine- 

 destroying Coleoptera can be very abundant in, at all events, the 

 Madeiran archipelago ; and although it is possible that a few of the 



