Fam. Sphceridiada-
Dactylosternum, Woll.
D. abdominale, Tab.—Of this shiny, hroad, black Beetle, about
a quarter of an inch in length, Mr. Wollaston writes: “ Several
specimens of this widely spread 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 Bast Indies.
Sphseridium, Bab.
S . d y t i s c o id e s , Bab.—Mr. Wollaston says : “ I have no means of
determining what this insect (the diagnosis of which I have copied
verbatim from the ‘ Systema Entomologise’) really is ; buh 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) Sphandium
or else an unusually large Cercyov, or (still more probably perhaps) a
Cyclonotum—with the head and prothorax rufo-ferruginous and the
elytra black. Nevertheless, as it was described by Babncius from a
specimen (or specimens) in the cabinet of Sir Joseph Banks, which
had been obtained at St. Helena, I have no choice but to include it
in the present enumeration; and I can only hope that some luture
collector in the Island may again bring the species to light, and so
enable us to decide positively what it is.
Fam. Niiidulida.
Carpophilus, Steph.
C. d im id i a tu s , Bab.—“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.
Wollaston says, “ equally diffused with the last (through human