384 Mr. T. V. Wollaston on the Tarphii. 



Agua Garcia, the Agua Mansa, Ycod el Alto, &c, of Teneriffe ; and 

 I have also taken it, though sparingly, at Osorio in Grand Canary, 

 and in profusion throughout the sylvan districts of Palina. It may 

 he known by its prothorax being more or less suddenly narrowed 

 behind, by its nodules being tolerably developed and at times ob- 

 scurely rufescent, and by its setae being short and subcrect. The 

 Palma specimens (var. (3. affinis) are just perceptibly narrower and 

 less flattened than those from Teneriffe and Grand Canary, and have 

 their setae a trifle longer, darker, and less thickened, their prothorax 

 a little more scooped-out behind (and with the posterior angles 

 usually rather more prominent), their elytral nodules rarely diluted 

 in colouring, and their antennae perhaps, if anything, somewhat 

 shorter ; but I do not think that they can be regarded as more than 

 a mere phasis of the T. canariensis. 



4. Tarphius erosus, n. sp. (PL XIX. fig. 4.) 



T. oblongus, subdepressus, granulis squamisque parvis fuscis vestitus et 

 setulis sat brevibus suberectis paulo pallidioribus tectus ; prothorace in 

 medio latiusculo, postice abrupte angustiore (quasi eroso) ; elytris leviter 

 nodosis (nodis obtusis vix exstantibus et plerumque sat distincte rufes- 

 centioribus) ; antennis pedibusque longiusculis, laete rufo-femigineis. 



Long. corp. lin. l-2f . 



Habitat Teneriffam, in iisdem locis ac praecedens sed illo rarior. 



Did not the present Tarphius occur in company with the T. 

 canariensis, I might have almost supposed it to be but a local state 

 of that insect; nevertheless, since the two are found absolutely 

 together, and exposed therefore to the same influences, I think that 

 the T. erosus must be properly regarded as distinct. Nor can the 

 slight constant differences which characterize it be looked upon as 

 sexual ones, seeing that in Palma, where the T. canariensis actually 

 abounds, the erosus has not yet been observed even to exist. It may 

 be known from its ally by being, on the average, a trifle smaller and 

 more depressed, by its prothorax being still more suddenly constricted 

 behind, by its elytral nodules being slightly less developed and usually 

 much more decidedly rufescent, and by its limbs being generally just 

 perceptibly longer and paler. It is not uncommon in the laurel- 

 woods of the north-eastern district of Teneriffe, where I have taken 

 it, in company with the T. canariensis and simplex, at Las Mercedes 

 and above Taganana. 



5. Tarphius quaclratus, n. sp. (PL XIX. fig. 5.) 



T. latus, subquadratus, granulis squamisque fuscis vestitus et setulis 



longiusculis suberectis pallidioribus parce tectus ; prothorace antice et 



