Wollaston well observes, deduce the former luxuriant vegetation of the island from the great preponderance of this group, even had we not positive evidence that it was at no distant epoch densely forest-clad. We will now proceed briefly to indicate the numbers and peculiarities of each of the families of beetles which enter into the St. Helena fauna, taking them, not in {299} systematic order, but according to their importance in the island. 1. RHYNCOPHORA.--This great division includes the weevils and allied groups, and, as above stated, exceeds in number of species all the other beetles of the island. Four families are represented; the Cossonidae, with fifteen peculiar genera comprising fifty-four species, and one minute insect (_Stenoscelis hylastoides_) forming a peculiar genus, but which has been found also at the Cape of Good Hope. It is therefore impossible to say of which country it is really a native, or whether it is indigenous to both, and dates back to the remote period when St. Helena received its early emigrants. All the Cossonidae are found in the highest and wildest parts of the island where the native vegetation still lingers, and many of them are only found in the decaying stems of tree-ferns, box-wood, arborescent Compositae, and other indigenous plants. They are all pre-eminently peculiar and isolated, having no direct affinity to species found in any other country. The next family, the Tanyrhynchidae, has one peculiar genus in St. Helena, with ten species. This genus (Nesiotes) is remotely allied to European, Australian, and Madeiran insects of the same family: the habits of the species are similar to those of the Cossonidae. The Trachyphloeidae are represented by a single species belonging to a peculiar genus not very remote from a European form. The Anthribidae again are highly peculiar. There are twenty-six species belonging to three genera, all endemic, and so extremely peculiar that they form two new subfamilies. One of the genera, Acarodes, is said to be allied to a Madeiran genus. 2. GEODEPHAGA.--These are the terrestrial carnivorous beetles, very abundant in all parts of the world, especially in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In St. Helena there are fourteen species belonging to three genera, one of which is peculiar. This is the _Haplothorax burchellii_, the largest beetle on the island, and now very rare. It resembles a large black Carabus. There is also a peculiar Calosoma, very distinct, though resembling in some respects certain African species. The rest of the {300} Geodephaga, twelve in number, belong to the wide-spread genus Bembidium, but they are altogether peculiar and isolated, except one, which is of European type, and alone has wings, all the rest being wingless. 3. HETEROMERA.--This group is represented by three peculiar genera containing four species, with two species belonging to European genera. They belong to the families Opatridae, Mordellidae, and Anthicidae.