Sexual Dimorphism in Buprestis sanguinea. 383 



B. douei, Luc. ; it cannot, therefore, as is evident by the 

 published figures of these insects, be very nearly related to 

 B. sanguinea. 



The locality, Albarracin, in the province of Teruel, 

 is remarkable for possessing various Lepidoptera not found 

 elsewhere in Europe, some of which are African, as 

 Satyrus prieuri, Albarracina horbi (the larva of which 

 also lives on the Ephedra), etc. The plant, Ephedra 

 nebrodensis, has much the appearance of a shrubby Equise- 

 tum, the young shoots being somewhat similarly jointed, 

 and such leaves as we could find were merely chaffy scales 

 at the joints. In their second year the shoots become woody, 

 and for a shrub comparable in size to Galluna, its stems 

 were remarkably thick and strong, reaching high up in the 

 plant, making it very stiff and broom-like. We saw the 

 Ephedra, no doubt, after its season of growth for the year, 

 and much of it looked faded and turning brown. The 

 stunted unsymmetrical aspect was probably due to injury 

 by grazing animals. The stems of the plants were covered 

 with a rusty-red lichen, very similar in colour to the upper 

 surface of the female beetle, and this may afford the insect 

 a certain amount of protection. 



The extraordinary sexual dimorphism in the present 

 species tends to show that the same peculiarity is likely to 

 occur in other Buprestids, especially, no doubt, amongst 

 the Australian Btigmoderse, numbers of which have been 

 named without any notice being taken of the sex of the 

 individuals described. 



Assuming that B. sanguinea, Fabr., B. levaillanti, Lucas, 

 and B. margaripicta (Mars.) are synonymous, the citations 

 are as follows : 



$. sanguinea, Fabr., Ent. Syst., SuppL, p. 135 (1798). 



Type, Mogador (Schousboe in Mus. Lund. = Mus. 



Copenhagen) (cf. Erichson). 

 $. levaillanti, Lucas, in Rev. ZooL, 1844, p. 50 ; Expl. 



Algerie, ii, p. 149, 1. 15, f. 85 ; Marseul, in L'Abeille, 



ii, pp. 169, 186. Type, Mostaganem, Algeria. 

 <J . margaripicta, Marseul, in L'Abeille, ii, pp. 169, 186 



(1865) (Ancylochira). Type, Algeria. 

 In addition to the specimens described by these authors 

 (two being mentioned by Lucas), three others have been 

 captured, but not recorded.* These are from Oran, 



* M. Bedel has been kind enough to send me these particulars. 



