388 



ERODIAD^E. 



I. Epistoma apice plus minus evidenter tridentatwm. 

 a. Epipleurce plica humeralis nulla. 



1068. Arthrodes Perraudieri. 

 Arthrodes Perraudieri, WolL, Append, liuj. op. 58. 



Habitat Canarienses, a Dom. de la Perraudiere (an in Lanzarota ? 

 capta. 



A single example of this distinct Arthrodes, which is remarkable 

 inter alia for its humeral plica being entirely absent, was taken at 

 the Canaries by M. de la Perraudiere ; but I have no information 

 as to the exact island. 



b. Epipleurce plica hwmeralis obsoleta. 



1069. Arthrodes inflatus. 



Arthrodes inflatus, WoU., Cat. Can. Col. 439 (1864). 

 Habitat Canarienses (Lanz.), sub lapidibus in aridis rarissimus. 



The only specimens which I have myself met with of this large 

 and exceedingly inflated Arthrodes were captured in the little islet 

 of Graciosa (of the Canarian Group), off the extreme north of Lan- 

 zarote. A single example, however, has been communicated b^ De 

 Marseul with the label "Teneriffe" appended to it; but as the 



that archipelago, I ought nevertheless to add that M. Brulle' s list contains what 

 appeared to me (when I inspected the types, hastily, in Paris) to be a true Ero- 

 dius where it is cited as the " E. europteus, F." Whether it be rightly identified 

 with the eiiroptsus, or not, 1 was unable to examine it with sufficient accuracy to 

 decide ; but, be that as it may, I have so strong a suspicion that the examples of 

 MM. Webb and Berthelot were in reality imported from the coast of Africa that 

 I cannot admit the species into the present volume without evidence of a more 

 conclusive nature than that which is supplied by the mere fact of its having been 

 inserted into the loosely prepared catalogue of M. Brulle unaccompanied by a 

 single word either as to its habitat or the circumstances under which it was taken. 

 Indeed I think it exceedingly probable that the insect in question (whether the 

 europ&us, or not) will prove to be identical with an Erodius which is common 

 on the opposite coast of Morocco having been captured at Mogadore by the 

 Rev. K. T. Lowe, the Messrs. Crotch, and myself and which also Dr. Crotch 

 picked up alive (on the Mole, at S ta Cruz) in Teneriife, escaped from the actual 

 vessel which had conveyed him from Mogadore ! It was (on that occasion) in 

 company with a Pimelia and a large Scaurus, which are equally abundant on the 

 African shore ; and I think it extremely likely therefore that MM. Webb and 

 Berthelot's " Erodius europ&us" as well as their " Akis acuminata," were ob- 

 tained under similar circumstances. At any rate, in the total absence of any 

 information vouchsafed to us, either by them or M. Brulle, I prefer this probable 

 explanation to the risk of perpetuating (what perhaps might be) a grave geogra- 

 phical error by admitting the species into my fauna particularly since it appears 

 to me to be a fact (and if so, a most important one) that the genus Arthrodes 

 does strictly, as above staled, take the place of Erodius in the Canarian Group. 



