Coleoptera of the Madeira Islands. 69o 



under rocks. The al)scnce()f numerous groups is oblij^atory, 

 since tlie plants on wliich they should feed are lacking. 

 Darwin's theory may doubtless be accepted at least in partial 

 ex[)lanation of the fauna on such islands as Baixo, Ciina, 

 Chjio, and Nordeste. A singuhir apparent exception to the 

 general character of these faunas — mainly of Carabidie, 

 Tenebrionidie, and weevils — is afforded by the extraordinary 

 Lamiid Deucalion desertarum^ Wollaston, confined to the 

 J)eserta Ishmds. Wollaston took it on two of the islands 

 (I saw one of his specimens in the Oxford Museum), Lowe 

 on the precipitous summit of Bugio. A related species, 

 D. oceanicum, Wollaston, was discovered by Leacock on the 

 Salvages, and is found nowhere else. But even these 

 Lamiids were found under stones and within fissures of 

 rocks. 



A striking feature of the Madeira Is. Coleopterous fauna 

 is the absence or small representation of certain families 

 prominent elsewhere. The reasons for these absences may 

 be various ; the case of the Cicindelidas has already been 

 discussed. To take another example, the Buprestidse are 

 represented only by the endemic A(/y'il us darwinii, Wollaston, 

 and A. laticornis, lllig., the latter found since Wollaston's 

 time, and presumably introduced. This is really astonishing, 

 for Morocco has no less than 72 species of Buprestidie, dis- 

 tributed in 17 genera. Of Acmceodera alone there are 24 

 species, of Anthaxia 10. Probably the meagre flora of 

 native woody plants in the Madeiras may explain why such 

 types as these, even if reaching the islands, could not become 

 established. Thus, the native trees (and near-trees) of the 

 islands apparently consist of only the following genera : — 

 Catha^ Cerasus, Clethra, Draccena,Erica (^2 SY>^cies) , Ardisia, 

 Ilex (2 species), Juniperus, Laurus, Myrica, Myrlus, Olea, 

 Ocotea, Apollotiias, Fersea, Pittosporum^ Notelcea, Sorbus, 

 RhamnuSj Salix, Sideroxylon^ and Taxus. Some of these even 

 may have been introduced in early days; thus Lowe wondered 

 whether the Sorbus was really native. Several represent 

 genera not present on the nearest continental areas, so that 

 the chances for any beetle feeding on a particularly woody 

 plant of finding food before it perished would be very 

 remote. Even Pinus was apparently absent, though now 

 widely planted and abundant. The same may be said of 

 Quercus and Castanea. 



Albert Fauvel^ published the most recent list of ^ladeira 



* Revue d'Ent. 1897, pp. 45 et seq. lu ' Auuaes de Sciencias 

 Naturaes," 1.S97-08, Padre Ernesto Schmitz gives a list of the beetles 

 of the Madeira Is., but it is merely a copy of Fauvel's. 



