CHAP. XTV ST. HELENA 299 



systematic order, but according to their importance in the 

 island. 



1. Rhyncophora. — This great division includes the 

 weevils and allied groups, and, as above stated, exceeds in 

 number of species all the other beetles of the island. Four 

 families are represented ; the Cossonidse, with fifteen 

 peculiar genera comprising fifty-four species, and one 

 minute insect (Stenoscelis hylastoides) forming a peculiar 

 genus, but which has been found also at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. It is therefore impossible to say of which country 

 it is really a native, or whether it is indigenous to both, 

 and dates back to the remote period when St. Helena 

 received its early emigrants. All the Cossonidse are found 

 in the highest and wildest parts of the island where the 

 native vegetation still lingers, and many of them are only 

 found in the decaying stems of tree-ferns, box-wood, 

 arborescent Compositse, and other indigenous plants. 

 They are all pre-eminently peculiar and isolated, having 

 no direct affinity to species found in any other country. 

 The next family, the Tanyrhynchidse, has one peculiar 

 genus in St. Helena, with ten species. This genus (Nesiotes) 

 is remotely allied to European, Australian, and Madeiran 

 insects of the same family : the habits of the species are 

 similar to those of the Cossonidse. The Trachyphloeidae are 

 represented by a single species belonging to a peculiar 

 genus not very remote from a European form. The An- 

 thribidae again are highly peculiar. There are twenty-six 

 species belonging to three genera, all endemic, and so 

 extremely peculiar that they form two new subfamilies. 

 One of the genera, Acarodes, is said to be allied to a 

 Madeiran genus. 



2. Geodephaga. — These are the terrestrial carnivorous 

 beetles, very abundant in all parts of the world, especially 

 in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In 

 St. Helena there are fourteen species belonging to three 

 genera, one of which is peculiar. This is the Haplothorax 

 burchellii, the largest beetle on the island, and now very 

 rare. It resembles a large black Carabus. There is also 

 a peculiar Calosoma, very distinct, though resembling in 

 some respects certain African species. The rest of the 



