I can scarcely refuse it a place in the present memoir, inasmuch,
as it was originally described by Fabricius, in 1775, from an example
(or examples) in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, which had been
obtained in that Island.” I have not seen this insect on the Island,
but the larvse which I saw hanging to the rocks, and prickly-pear
bushes in the locality of New Ground, supposing them to belong to
CycLonia lunata, may possibly have belonged to this species, as it
seems to attach itself to that plant.
Fam. Ilopalridee.
Hopatrum, Fab.
*H . h a d r o id e s , Woll.—A brown, mud-coloured Beetle, about
one-third of an inch in length, generally covered with a thin coating
of earth. Of - all the Coleóptera in the Island, this is the most
plentiful. I t is found everywhere, but inhabits chiefly the high land,
where, at Longwood and other farms, it abounds in the ploughed
and cultivated fields. I have turned over the surface soil with
my foot and exposed hundreds of these insects to view. They are
especially fond of congregating around the stems of potato plants,
and as they do not appear in any way destructive to the plant, I
imagine their object is to seek its shelter from the heat of the sun.
Mr. Wollaston says: “ The H. hadroides is very nearly akin to a
species which was taken by Mr. Bewicke at the Cape of Good Hope;
but it is altogether rather larger, broader, and more parallel, its head
is a little wider, with the genre more rounded, its prothorax is less
deeply scooped out in front, with the anterior angles consequently
less porrect and more obtuse, the hinder angles also are somewhat
less produced, and its shoulders are more rectangular.”.
Fam. Ulomida.
Alphitobius, Steph.
A . d i a p e r in u s , Kugel.—Mr. Wollaston writes of this insect;
“ Judging from the specimens which were taken by Mr. Melliss,,
the widely-spread A. diaperinus has become established at St. Helena,
as is the case with it in the Madeiras, Canaries, Cape Yerdes, and
Ascension, and indeed throughout the greater portion of the
civilized world; but I need scarcely add that it is no more con-:
nected, in reality, with our present fauna than it is with that of any
other country where it has in like manner been introduced through
the medium of commerce.” I t is a shiny black Beetle, about one-
third of an inch in length, and nearly half as broad as it is long;
common about Jamestown and that locality.
A . p ic e u s , Oliv.—A species very like the last, but only about half
the size; found in similar localities. Mr. Wollaston says, as at
St. Helena, so it has been naturalized, through the medium of commerce,
“ in the Azores, Madeiras, Canaries, Cape Verdes and at
Ascension, in which last-mentioned island it was found, in company
with the A. diaperinus, by the late Mr. Bewicke, not in houses and
amongst farinaceous substances, as we should have expected, but
‘in the dung of .sea-birds, miles from habitable parts’ which is
undoubtedly a singular habit for these common and almost cosmopolitan
insects to have acquired.”
Gnathocerus, Thunb.
G. c o r n u t u s , Fab.—-This reddish-brown Insect has been introduced
through the medium of commerce, in like manner as it has
been at Madeiras, Canaries, Cape Yerdes, and Ascension. I t is
common about houses and store-rooms, both in town and country,
in fact wherever flour, biscuit, and other farinaceous substances are
stored.
Tribolium, MacLeay,
T . f e r r u g in e u m , Fab. — A somewhat smaller Insect, of a
reddish-brown colour, introduced through the medium of commerce,
as it has also been in the Azorean, Madeiran, Canarian, and
Cape Yerde archipelagos. I t is very common at St. Helena in
similar localities as the last species.
Fam. Tenebrionidts.
Tenebrio, Linn.
T . o b s c u r u s , Fab.—A rather large, long, thin, black Beetle,
about an inch in length, which has become naturalized in the Island,
as it has “ almost universally throughout the Azorean, Madeiran,
and Canarian archipelagos.” I t is somewhat rare at St. Helena,
but is found on both high and low land, generally in straw, about
M