CURCULIONIDjE. 263 



being a little flatter (or less cylindric), and nearly entirely free from 

 the fine pubescence which is always conspicuous in that insect, with 

 their striae broader, deeper, and more coarsely punctured and their 

 interstices less transversely-rugulosc, in its scutellum being a trifle 

 smaller, and in its frontal fovea and prothoracic keel (especially in 

 front) being more obscure. 



The M. maderensis and persimilis are intimately allied to the 

 British M. Tardii, which is found in Ireland and the south-western 

 parts of our own country ; and I think it far from unlikely that the 

 three forms may be in reality but geographical developments from a 

 primeval Atlantic type. 



732. Mesites euphorbias. 



Mesites Euphorbia, Wall., Ins. Mad. 318 (1854). 



, Id., Cat. Mad. Col. 104 (1857). 



t ld. y Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. v. 403 (1861). 



Habitat Maderenses (Mad.}, ab ora maritima usque ad 5000' s. m. 

 Euphorbias emortuas destruens. 



This is emphatically the Euphorbia-destrojing Mesites of the 

 Madeiran Group, though hitherto it has been observed only in 

 Madeira proper. In that island, however, it is universal, wherever 

 there are dead Euphorbias ascending from almost the sea-level 

 (where it infests the E. piscatoria) up to an elevation of at least 

 5000 feet, where it abounds in the gigantic E. mellifera. Like all 

 the members of this genus, it is most variable in size. 



733. Mesites proximus. 



Mesites proximus, WolL, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. v. 404 (1861). 

 , Id., Cat. Can. Col. 277 (1864). 



Habitat Canarienses (Ten.}, hactenus parcissime repertus. 



A Canarian Mesites which appears to be quite distinct from the 

 persimilis, and more allied perhaps to the Madeiran M. euphorbice ; 

 though, as I have seen hitherto but two examples of it, captured by 

 myself at Taganana in the north of Teneriffe, further material is 

 much required in order to establish its characters more completely. 

 From its general fades I should be inclined to suspect that the 

 species is of Euphorbia-infesting habits (though possibly attached to 

 the Euphorbias of the higher districts) ; but I have no recollection 

 of the precise spot in which my specimens were taken, though I 

 believe that they were brushed out of dense herbage by the edges 

 of the Vueltas on the ascent to the Cumbre. 



