INSECT A. 
155 
tenth of an inch in length, taken amongst dead leaves and sticks 
from an altitude of 2000 to 2700 feet above the sea. 
SUB-FAM. OTIOUHYNC HIDES. 
Sciobius, Schonh. 
*S. subnodosus, Woll. — A light brown Beetle, about a quarter 
of an inch in length, very abundant, and equally destructive to vegeta- 
tion on the high land. In sheltered valleys and ravines, where 
there are gardens, it is most difficult to get plants to grow in con- 
sequence of this creature ; it lies stupid and dormant during day- 
light, easily concealing itself, because of the similarity of its colour, 
in dry sticks and leaves ; sometimes under the string with which a 
plant may be tied to a stick, at other times inside of a flower, 
this cunning little insect finds a hiding-place until darkness comes 
on, when it turns out in numbers and attacks the tender 
branches of plants, generally eating the soft stem so that the young 
shoots break oft’ and fall to the ground. Mr. Wollaston says : “I 
have no doubt it is referable to the Otiorhynchideous genus Sciobius, 
all the exponents of which, hitherto known, appear to be South 
African.” And he also considers it, in all probability, to be a truly 
indigenous insect at St. Helena. 
Otiorhynchus, Germ. 
O. sulcatus, Fab. — A Beetle very similar to the last, but nearly 
twice as large and of a dark colour, almost black, with brown spots 
on the back. It is not so abundant as the last but its habits are 
very similar, hiding through the day and devouring vegetation at 
night. It appears to be confined to the gardens on the high land, 
and has a habit, the object of which I imagine to be predatory, 
of indulging in nocturnal rambles in houses after lights arc 
extinguished. Mr. Wollaston considers it to be the common 
European O. sulcatus, which has become naturalized, as it has at the 
Azores, from more northern latitudes. 
Faw. Antlribidce. 
SUB-FAM. A RJ30C BRIDES. 
Arseocerus, Schonh. 
A. fasciculatus, De Geer. — Stout, thick, dark brown Beetles, 
about one-sixth of an inch in length, which, Mr. Wollaston says, 
