Mr. T. V. "Wollaston on the Coleoptera of the Salvages. 85 



of specimens, from time to time, by chance agencies) to render their 

 quondam connexion, thus far at least, probable. 



The small size of the Salvages, which consist of two uninhabited 

 rocks (the minute third one being absolutely inaccessible) separated 

 by a channel of about twelve miles, added to the great difficulty of 

 approaching their few and dangerous landing-places *, render every 

 fact concerning them, correctly arrived at, doubly valuable; and 

 therefore I do not deem it necessary to apologize for these few pre- 

 liminary remarks on an enumeration of the eleven species of Coleo- 

 ptera which have been hitherto detected upon them. Six of these 

 (apparently new to science, or at any rate treated by myself as such) 

 were described in the ' Insecta Maderensia ' in 1854, and were due 

 to the indefatigable researches of T. S. Leacock, Esq., of Funchal, 

 who effected a landing on both of the islands during the spring of 

 1851 ; whilst the remaining five (three only of which would seem 

 to be novelties) have been lately communicated by my friend the 

 Barao do Castello de Paiva, who obtained them from the master of a 

 Portuguese boat, which was freighted from Madeira for the purpose 

 of gathering orchil and barilla, with which most of these Atlantic 

 rocks more or less abound. In the following catalogue I do not 

 undertake to pronounce for certain on which of the two islands the 

 five recently added species were collected, though I believe them to 

 be from the Great Salvage. Those discovered by Mr. Leacock were, 

 he informs me, from the southern or smaller island, — known, never- 

 theless, as the ' Great Piton.' 



Fam. Carabidae. 



Genus Tabus. 



Clairville, Ent. Helv. ii. 94 (1806). 



1. Tarus Paivanus, n. sp. 



T. capite prothoraceque piceis, illo sat prot'unde punctato, hoc ruguloso 

 sed minus profunde punctato, postice valde angustato truncate angulis 



* I should add that, whilst accompanying my friend John Gray, Esq., to the 

 Canaries, in his yacht the ' Miranda,' two years ago, one of our main objects was 

 to explore thoroughly these remote and almost unknown islands. Accordingly, 

 sailing from Madeira on the 6th of January, 1858, we arrived off the Great 

 Salvage on the following morning, and, after lowering the boat, pulled towards 

 the rocks. The sea, however, ran so high, and the surf was so tremendous, that 

 we found it impossible to approach nearer than a stone's throw from the shore 

 without the utmost danger; for the boat must have been literally dashed to 

 pieces had we attempted to land. We therefore returned to the yacht (not 

 without a " ducking"), and resumed our voyage to Teneriffe. 



