SCO MR. G. R, CROTCH ON AZOREAN COLEOPTERA. [Mar. 28, 



neighbouring grov;ps of Madeira and tlie Canaries. The exploration 

 of these, however, is due ahnost entirely to the laborious and unre- 

 mitting exertions of Mr. T. V. V» oUaston, who has devoted himself 

 to working out the Coleopterous fauna of the Atlantic region with a 

 care and perseverance that, unfortunately, finds too few imitators. 

 The fourth group, viz. the Cape de Verde Isles, have also been re- 

 cently explored by him, and have produced a magnificent series of 

 novelties. It is with considerable pleasure, then, that I am able, 

 through the kindness and liberality of Mr. Godman, to supplement 

 his researches with an enumeration of the Azorean Coleoptera. Our 

 previous knowledge of this group of islands was very limited, but 

 will be found admirably summed up in J.I. Drouet's 'Elements de la 

 Faune Acorcenne.' Indeed it is to him and his companion M. Morelet 

 that we owe any detail of the insects, shells, &c. at all. Of Coleo- 

 ptera he enumerates fifty-nine, and comments upon their European 

 character, five only being peculiar ; these were described in part by 

 JNI. Tarnier in M. Morelet's ' Notice sur I'histoire naturelle des iles 

 Arores ;' and one (^Lapur. azoricus) by M. Drouet himself in his 

 ' Coleoptcres Aroreens.' The remaining species cited by him are of 

 the most ordinary character, and show certainly the cultivated state 

 of the islands. In 1865, however, Mr. Godman undertook a voyage 

 to these islands with a view to get a more satisfactory rtsunic of 

 their fauna ; and in order that the Coleoptera might receive due 

 attention, he was accompanied by an energetic and well-known 

 English collector, Mr. J. A. Brewer. They arrived at S. JNIiguel 

 on the 2 1st of March, and remained there a month. On the 21st 

 of April they visited Terceira for a day, and went on to Fayal ; 

 thence they crossed, with some difficult}^ to Flores and Corvo. 

 After this Mr. Godman was obliged to return ; but his collector 

 (Mr. Brewer) subsequently visited Sta. Maria, though it was then 

 somewhat late in the season. The material thus amassed, was libe- 

 rally placed in my hands by Mr. Godman to be worked out ; and it 

 shows a very great advance upon that of MM. Drouet and Morelet, 

 including as it does 213 species, of which thirteen are new to 

 science, and thirty-seven new to the Atlantic district, and redeems 

 the faima from its purely European character. Of the nine islands, 

 three remain practically vuivisited — one, indeed (Pico), being pro- 

 bably the best island for characteristic species, being much the 

 most wooded. 



Analogy would lead us to put the fauna at, at least, double the 

 present number ; and much of the increase would consist of new 

 species, since, in comparing it with that of the other Atlantic groups, 

 it presents some singular features. 



Thus of the 1450 species comprised in the 'Coleoptera Atlanti- 

 dum' one-fourth are European, one-fourth probably geographical 

 races, and one-half indigenous. Thus in the combined groups only 

 350 European fpecics occur, while here we have already ICO ; hence 

 no great increase of this class can l)e ex})ected. The proportions 

 here take the form of three-fourths European, and about one-tenth, 

 or less, indigenous. This is no doubt due to this collection having 



