INSECT A. 
139 
Fam. SpJueridiadce. 
Dactylosternum, Woll. 
D. abdominale, Fab. — Of this sliiny, broad, black Beetle, about 
a quarter of an inch in length, Mr. Wollaston writes : “ Several 
specimens of this widely spi’ead insect were taken in St. Helena by 
Mr. Melliss, and there can be no doubt that the species has become 
naturalized in the Island through human agencies. Although found 
more particularly in Mediterranean latitudes, it has acquired an 
extended geographical range — occurring in the Azorean, Madeiran, 
Canarian, and Cape Verde archipelagos, and being reported even 
from Madagascar, Bourbon, and the East Indies.” 
Sphteridium, Fab. 
S. dytiscoides, Fab. — Mr. Wollaston says : “ I have no means of 
determining what this insect (the diagnosis of which I have copied 
verbatim from the ‘ Systema Entomologhe’) really is ; but, judging 
from the rough figure of it which is given by Olivier, it would 
appear to me to be either a true (though possibly small) Splueridium 
or else an unusually large Cercyon, or (still more probably perhaps) a 
Cyclonotum — with the head and prothorax rufo-ferruginous and the 
elytra black. Nevertheless, as it was described by Fabricius from a 
specimen (or specimens) in the cabinet of Sir Joseph Banks, which 
bad been obtained at St. Helena, I have no choice but to include it 
in the present enumeration; and I can only hope that some future 
collector in the Island may again bring the species to light, and so 
enable us to decide positively what it is.” 
Fam. Nitidulida. 
Carpophilus, Steph. 
C. dimidiatus, Fab. — A small black Beetle, of which Mr. 
Wollaston writes : “ A widely diffused insect, which appears to have 
been naturalized, through the medium of commerce, in most parts of 
the civilized world, and which has established itself in the Madeiran, 
Canarian, and Cape Verde archipelagos.” 
C. hemipterus, Linn. — A thicker, shorter species, and, as Mr. 
M ollaston says, “ equally diffused with the last (through human 
