416 Mr. T. V. WoUaston on the Coleoptera of St. Helena. 



(Subfam. Otioehynchides.) 



Genus 33. Sciobius. 



Schonherr, Cure. Disp. Meth. 197 (1826). 



50. Sciobius subnodosus, n. sp. 



S. ovatus, piceus, squanmlis fulvo- (vel etiam obscurissime sub- 

 metallico-) cinereis plus minus vestitus setulisque suberectis sub- 

 cinereis in elytris seriatim obsitus ; rostro breviter subcylindrico, 

 apice triaugulariter exciso, in medio argute carinato, scrobe pro- 

 funda (margine inferiore decurva) ante oeulos (valde prominentes) 

 evanescente, fronte subito convexa ; protborace confuse subtuber- 

 culato-ruguloso, in disco leviter carinato et utrinque versus latera 

 obsolete et late longitudin alitor impresso ; scutello nuUo ; elytris 

 ovalibus, protborace latioribus, late punctato-sulcatis, interstitiis 

 postice plus minus evidenter subnoduloso-elevatis ; antennis gra- 

 cilibus, funiculi (7-articulati, filiformis) art° 2^^° elongate. 

 Long. Corp. lin. circa 3. 



Several specimens of an obscure brownish weevil now before 

 me, and which were taken by Mr. Melliss at St. Helena, I have 

 no doubt are referable to the Otiorhynchideous genus Sciobius, 

 all the exponents of which, hitherto known, appear to be 

 South- African ; whilst its ovate body and slightly impressed 

 prothorax (on either side) affiliate it with a small group of five 

 species described by Boheman in the seventh volume of Schon- 

 herr's ' Genera et Species Cm'culionidum,' with the diagnosis 

 of none of which, however, it would appear absolutely to agree. 

 In all probability, it is a truly indigenous insect at St. Helena, 

 and, though seldom more than about 3 lines in length, it is the 

 largest of the aboriginal Curculionids described in this memoir 

 (the Otiorhynchus sulcatus being manifestly introduced) ; and 

 it may further be known by its brownish and rather coarsely 

 sculptured surface being clothed with minute ashy or yellowish 

 brown scales, and studded on the elytra with short suberect setse 

 placed in longitudinal rows, by its rostrum and prothorax 

 being very delicately keeled down the centre, and by its ely- 

 tral interstices being a good deal raised and interrupted pos- 

 teriorly, so as to shape out a few more or less obscure nodules. 

 Its paler scales are sometimes condensed into a slightly curved 

 obscm-e line on either side of the prothorax, and even into just 

 traceable blotches behind the middle of the eXjim, giving the 

 prima facie appearance of a very obsolete broken fascia ; and 

 its antennae are slender, with their third funiculus-joint elon- 

 gated. 



Genus 34. Otiorhynchus. 



Germar, Ins. Spec. 342 (1824). 



51. Otiorhynchus sulcatus'^. 

 Curculio sulcatus, Fab., Mant. Ins. 122 (1787). 



