e three species belonging to two genera. One is a
peculiar species of Trox, allied to South African forms; the other two
belong to the peculiar genus Melissius, which Mr. Wollaston considers to be
remotely allied to Australian insects.

8. PSEUDO-TRIMERA.--Here we have the fine lady-bird _Chilomenus lunata_,
also found in Africa, but apparently indigenous in St. Helena; and a
peculiar species of Euxestes, a genus only found elsewhere in Madeira.

9. TRICHOPTERYGIDAE.--These, the minutest of beetles, are represented by
one species of the European and Madeiran genus Ptinella.

10. NECROPHAGA.--One indigenous species of Cryptophaga inhabits St. Helena,
and this is said to be very closely allied to a Cape species.

_Peculiarities and Origin of the Coleoptera of St. Helena._--We see that
the great mass of the indigenous species are not only peculiar to the
island, but so isolated in their characters as to show no close affinity
with any existing insects; while a small number (about one-third of the
whole) have some relations, though often very remote, with species now
inhabiting Europe, Madeira, or South Africa. These facts clearly point to
the very great antiquity of the insect fauna of St. Helena, which has
allowed {301} time for the modification of the originally introduced
species, and their special adaptation to the conditions prevailing in this
remote island. This antiquity is also shown by the remarkable specific
modification of a few types. Thus the whole of the Cossonidae may be
referred to three types, one species only (_Hexacoptus ferrugineus_) being
allied to the European Cossonidae though forming a distinct genus; a group
of three genera and seven species remotely allied to the _Stenoscelis
hylastoides_, which occurs also at the Cape; while a group of twelve genera
with forty-six species have their only (remote) allies in a few insects
widely scattered in South Africa, New Zealand, Europe, and the Atlantic
Islands. In like manner, eleven species of Bembidium form a group by
themselves; and the Heteromera form two groups, one consisting of three
genera and species of Opatridae allied to a type found in Madeira, the
other, Anthicodes, altogether peculiar.

Now each of these types may well be descended from a single species which
originally reached the island from some other land; and the great variety
of generic and specific forms into which some of them have diverged is an
indication, and to some extent a meas