CURCULIONID^E. 257 



Of precisely the same habits as the Porto-Santan Lipommata 

 calcaratum, of which perhaps it may be regarded as the Canarian 

 representative; but its funiculus is composed of only five joints, 

 instead of seven (as in that insect) ; and although there can be little 

 doubt that it is practically blind, its eyes nevertheless are not literally 

 absent being just indicated, in a most imperfect and rudimentary 

 state, when viewed beneath the microscope. 



The P. arenarius has been captured in Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, 

 and Grand Canary, where it resides (at some depth below the sur- 

 face) amongst the loose sand which has accumulated into hillocks 

 around the various shrubby plants which stud certain arid tracts in 

 the immediate vicinity of the sea-beach. In Fuerteventura espe- 

 cially I have taken it in considerable abundance, principally at 

 Corralejo, by scooping out the sand at the roots of Zygophyllum 

 Fontanesii and a small maritime Euphorbia ; and I likewise met 

 with it in the little island of Graciosa, off the extreme north of 

 Lanzarote. 



Genus 230. ONYCHOLIPS. 



Wolla^tnn, Trans. Ent. tioc. Loud. v. 389 (1861). 



717. Onycholips bifurcatus. 



Onycholips bifurcatus, Wall, Ice. cit. 394, pi. 19. f. 2 (1861). 

 , Id, Cat. Can. Col, 274 (1864). 



Habitat Canarienses (Lanz., Fuert., Can.), in arenosis aridis subma- 

 ritimis ad radices plantarum una cum Pentatemno fodiens. 



Found sparingly in the dry sandy districts of Lanzarote, Fuerte- 

 ventura, and Grand Canary, in the vicinity of the sea-shore (though 

 seldom actually upon it) ; and I likewise met with it in the little 

 island of Graciosa, off the extreme north of Lanzarote. Its habits 

 in act are precisely similar to those of Pentatemnus (with which it 

 is often taken in company) and of the Porto-Santan Lipommata, 

 to both of which in its fossorial mode of life, and in the long erect 

 hairs with which it is sparingly beset, as well as in its freedom 

 from sight, it is manifestly allied. Yet in the marvellous confor- 

 mation of its tibias and feet it recedes from those insects altogether, 

 as well as from every other group with which I am acquainted a 

 fact which, in combination with the above-mentioned peculiarities 

 of habit and structure, stamps it as perhaps the most anomalous 

 member of the Coleoptera which has hitherto been detected in these 

 Atlantic islands. 



