MR. A. MURRAY'S MONOGRAPH OF THE FAMILY OF NITIDULARLE. 379 
mutilated fragment of the type in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, that his 
Nitidula pallens belongs to this species. 
This species is now found in most countries to which commerce has penetrated. Its 
original habitat is supposed to be the West Indies. 
65. CARPOPHILUS DIMIDIATUS. 
Erichs. in Germ. Zeitschr. iv. 259 (1843). 
Nitidula dimidiata, Fab. Ent. Syst. i. 1. 261. 27 (1792) ; Syst. El. i. 354. 36 (1792). 
Carpophilus pusillus, Steph. Illustr. Brit. Ent. iii. 51. 2 (1830) ; Manual, 122. 975 (1839). 
C. auripilosus, Woll. Ins. Mad. 117 (1854). 
C. cephalotes (Mus. Berol.). 
C. mutilato valde affinis, minor: subcylindrico-oblongus, fuscus, testaceus, testaceo-rufus, 
rufo-ferrugineus, testaceo-fuscus, piceus vel nigro-piceus, elytris interdum partibus 
dilutioribus; dense et fortiter punctatus, pubescens ut in C. mutilato; thorage qua- 
drato; elytris thorace longioribus. Long. 1—1} lin., lat. 3 lin. 
° Habitat in Europa, America boreali, India occidentali, Madera, India orientali, Australia &c. . 
Very closely allied to C. mutilatus, from which I feel scarcely warranted in separating 
it. It is smaller, and decidedly more coarsely and deeply punctate; more especially 
the variolose punctuations on the head and thorax are larger and deeper. It is propor- 
tionally shorter and broader. The thorax has the anterior angles squarer (more high- 
shouldered as it were), although in some specimens this difference is not so perceptible 
as in others, there being a slight difference in individuals in this respect. The colour 
is variable, from dark brown (almost black) to rufo-testaceous. There is usually a pale, 
oblique, rather broad band on each elytron, running from the shoulder to the suture near 
the apex, forming together the letter V, so that the scutellum is surrounded with a tri- 
angular large dark patch, and the pale colour also extends backwards for a short distance 
along the margin or the base. Traces of this distribution of colour may even be seen in 
the darkest individuals; for, after the elytra are wholly black, the pubescence on the 
space where the V-like band should be is usually more abundant and paler. It is to be 
remarked that in this family the punctuation generally partakes of the colour of the 
surface from which it springs. The darker the specimens are, the deeper also is the 
punctuation. The elytra are proportionally shorter, and not so declinate at the apex as 
in C. mutilatus. In this species they are usually very little longer than the thorax; in 
that species about one-fourth or one-third longer. 
Found in all parts of the world. 
A single specimen is recorded by Mr. Wollaston as having been taken in the neigh- 
bourhood of Funchal, in Madeira. He supposed it to be a distinct species, and named 
it auripilosus from the pale yellowish pubescence with which it is clothed; but I do not 
find the pubescence more golden than is usually the case in C. dimidiatus. "The elytra 
are perhaps a little longer, but not sufficiently so to make it a distinct species. It is a 
small individual with the least-developed form of thorax (narrowed in front) which is 
found in this group. In the collection of Mr. Wollaston's Madeiran insects in the 
British Museum. It has also been found by him in the Canary Isles. 
