208 Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston on the 



indistincta postmedia [antemetlia obsoleta] fracta cinered 



ornatis ; antennis pedibusque piceo- vel rufo-ferrugineis ; 



ocLilis parvis, rotundatis. 

 Long. Corp. lin. f — |. 

 Habitat in ins. Hierro, a meipso prope oppidum Valverde, 



Februario a.d. 1858, detectus. 



This little Sphcsricus is almost identical, at first sight, with the 

 S. albopictus, which is so universal and abundant throughout the 

 Madeiran Group ; nevertheless it may be at once known from it, 

 when placed beneath the microscope, by its tarsi being more 

 conical, — the penultimate joint, which is strongly bilobed in the 

 albopictus, being in the S. simplex both narrow and entire. In other 

 particulars, the fasciae of the Canarian species are less developed 

 than is the case in its ally, — the antemedial one being apparently 

 quite suffused and obsolete, whilst the postmedial one is more 

 indistinct and not so arcuate ; but the obscure, ill-defined, longi- 

 tudinal, cloud-like band which tends to unite the two is, on the 

 other hand, perhaps rather mo7'e traceable. Its primd facie dis- 

 tinctions from the Nitpus gonospermi (apart from generic ones) 

 have been already implied in my observations under that insect. 

 As mentioned above, the .S*. simplex has as yet only been noticed 

 in the island of Hierro, — where, during my residence there with 

 the Rev. R. T. Lowe in February, 1858, I captured a few speci- 

 mens of it in a small Barranco immediately to the north-west of 

 Valverde. 



11. Sphcericus gihbicoUis, n. sp. 



S. capite prothoraceque fusco-piceis et squamis flavescenti- 

 cinereis dense tectis, hoc ad latera distinctius rotundato, in 

 disco gibboso snb-binodoso et in medio canaliculato ; elytris 

 clarioribus (rufo-ferrugineis) ovalibus vel rotundato-ovalibua, 

 profunde punctatis, fascia indistincta postmedia plus minus 

 obsoleta fracta flavescenti-cinerea ornatis ; antennis pedi- 

 busque robustis, clare rufo-ferrugineis, squamosis ; oculis 

 reniformi-ovatis. 



Long. corp. lin. | — 1|. 



Habitat in ins. Lanzarotd et Fuerteventura, rarissimus. 



In the shape of its eyes, which are ovate-reniform (being rather 

 acute behind and broad in front), instead of round, the aS". gibbi- 

 collis differs not only from the preceding species but from all the 

 Sphcerici with which I am acquainted. In other respects, it 

 recedes from the S. simplex in being apparently rather larger and 



