186 RIIYNCHOPHORA. [Cathormiocerut. 



and Madeira; it is extremely closely allied to Trachyplilceus, but its 

 members may be distinguished from the latter genus by having the 

 ventral segments without scales and somewhat shining and the base of 

 the scape dilated and produced into a prominence externally.* M. Bedel 

 considers the latter to be merely a specific character and unites the two 

 genera as one ; the two British species are extremely local. 



I. Antenna? more slender; eyes less prominent ; punctuation 



feebler ; colour lighter C. socius, Boh. 



II. Antennae stouter; eyes more prominent; punctuation 



stronger; colour darker C. MAEITIMTTS, Rye. 



C. socius, Boh. Oblong-ovate, pitch black, with the antenna? and 

 legs lighter ; upper surface with greyish scales, which are more close at 

 sides and are scanty in middle, as well as on under- side ; "rostrum furrowed; 

 scape of antennae long and stout, abruptly dilated externally almost im- 

 mediately as it leaves the scrobe, scrobes broadly open in front if viewed 

 from above ; thorax not much broader than long, with the sides rounded, 

 very closely sculptured ; elytra with regular distinct punctured striae, 

 interstices with erect whitish scale-like setae, which are more evident 

 behind ; tibiae without distinct spines at apex. L. 2|-3 mm. 



Sandy places ; extremely local ; introduced as British by Mr. Walton and rein- 

 troduced by Mr. Rye on the authority of a single specimen taken by Mr. H. Mon- 

 tague in the early part of the summer of 1867 at Freshwater, Isle of Wight ; I 

 took a single specimen in the spring of 1882 at the foot of the cliffs at Sandown in 

 the Island ; during the summers of 1887 and 1888 Mr. Champion has, however, 

 taken a considerable number of specimens in the Sandown locality ; its distribution 

 is very strange, as it has been taken by Dr. Sharp at a great elevation, in the Sierra 

 Nevada, at the margins of snow-fields; M. Bedel records a single specimen from the 

 neighbourhood of nests of Aphan^gaster (a 1'entour des fourmilieres d' Apliai nog as- 

 ter), but I do not know whether his insect has been compared with our specimens ; 

 he further says that C. maritimus is probably nothing but a variety of C. socius, 

 which it certainly is not if our specimens are rightly named. 



C. maritimus, Eye. Allied to the preceding but flatter, darker, 

 more strongly punctured, and with the antennae more robust ; the head is 

 wider and the eyes more prominent; the rostrum has the central longitu- 

 dinal furrow not so evident ; the scape is not dilated until at some little 

 distance from the scrobe, a rather conspicuous slender space intervening; 

 the funiculus and the club are (comparing the same sexes) very dis- 

 tinctly broader and stouter ; the thorax is longer and more coarsely 

 punctured ; the elytra are natter, less ovate, with the sides a little 

 straighter, and with the striae much more coarsely punctured, and the setre 

 on the interstices are black, and not so stout or quite so long ; the legs are 

 darker, and the apex of the tibise is scarcely so enlarged. L. 2|-3 mm. 



Portsmouth district, discovered by Mr. Moncreaff in the salterns near Southsea ; 

 extremely local, at roots of grass, plantain, &c., and confined to a few square yards; 

 it is a very difficult species to capture, as it tucks in its antennae and legs and feigns 

 death at times for half an hour, and it is the exact colour of the soil. 



* This applies to our species, but Mr. Rye (Eut. Monthly Mag. vii. 151), considers 

 that the extreme development of the antennae in some Cathormioceri, being mostly 

 sexual and not found in all the species, is not of much generic value. Bedel uuites 

 the genus with Tr achy phi oeus. 



