*W. horridus, Woll.—The largest of the three species; a black
Beetle, a quarter of an inch in length, and a true native of the
indigenous plants on the high land.
*ÍT. squamosus, Woll.—A curious little dark brown Weevil,
less shiny than the former, about an eighth of an inch in length,
found amongst dry leaves and stieks on the elevated parts of the
Island, and figured in the Journal of IMomology for Dec. 1861,
pi. xiv. fig. 3.
*N. asperatus, Wo ll—A dark brown, mud-coloured Beetle,
about the same length but thinner than the last, very common
amongst dead oak leaves and rotten branches that have fallen on to
damp ground, at an altitude of 2000 feet above the sea, at Oak
Bank, Plantation, &c. Mr. Wollaston considers these species
to be unmistakably indigenous at St. Helena, being without doubt
amongst the most characteristic of the aboriginal forms.
STJB-FAM. TRACHYPHLCEIDES.
Trachyphlceosoma, Woll.
Mr Wollaston writes of this genus: “ The insignificant little
brown Curculionid which is manifestly one of the most indigenous
of the St. Helena Coleóptera, has so much they) rima facie appearance,
in its short oval outline and the mud-like scales and setse with
which it is clothed, of a minute Trachyphlceus that it required a close
examination to convince me that it should not be referred to that
group When carefully inspected, however, it will be seen to have
many essential points of difference ; for not only is its rostrum more
abbreviated and conical, and truncate (instead of triangularly scooped
out) at the tip, but its scrobs is likewise more bent downwards (and
that very suddenly) beneath the still smaller and less prominent eye,
from which, consequently, its lower edge is much more remote ; its
antennae also are a trifle less incrassated, and inserted appreciably
nearer to the apex of the rostrum; and its feet have their third joint
less broadly bilobed, and their claws a little more developed. n
the whole I should say that it had more in common with my
Madeiran genus Scoliocerus than with Traclyphlaus proper; nevertheless,
the position of its rostral grooves and its kss curved scape
will of themselves suffice to separate it therefrom.
*T. setosum, Woll.—A dull muddy-brown Beetle, about one-
INSECTA. XbS
tenth of an inch in length, taken amongst dead leaves and sticks
from an altitude of 2000 to 2700 feet above the sea,
SUB-EAM. O T IO RHY N CHID E S .
Sciobius, Schonh.
* S . s u b n o d o s u s , Woll.—A light brown Beetle, about a quarter
of an inch in length, very abundant, and equally destructive to vegetation
on the high land. In sheltered valleys and ravines, where
there are gardens, it is most difficult to get plants to grow in consequence
of this creature; it lies stupid and dormant during daylight,
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 off 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. s u l c a tu s , 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. I t is not so abundant as the last but its habits are
very similar, hiding through the day and devouring vegetation at
night. I t 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 are
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.
Fam. Anthribidce.
SUB-FAM. AKJ50CEB.IDES.
Arseocerus, Schonh.
A . f a s c ic u l a tu s , De Geer.—Stout, thick, dark brown Beetles,
about one-sixth of an inch in length, which, Mr. Wollaston says,