INSECTA. 681 



having been recently published especially devoted to tnis great tribe of insects. Of these, the most important are 

 the volumes devoted to the Lamellicornes, inMulsant's Histoire Naturelle des Coleopteres de France, and Dr. Bur- 

 meister's Handbuch der Entomologie, Vols. Ill, IV, and V. Mulsant adopts the two groups of Scarabeaidea or 

 Petalocerides, and Lucanides or Priocerides, and divides the former into eight families, from the structure of the 

 perfect insect and larva, namely-the Copriens, Aphodiens, Trogidiens, Geotrupins, Oryctesiens, Calicnemiens, 

 Melonthens, and Cctoniens. These families are chiefly characterized by the position of the legs, the exposed or 

 concealed BCUtellum and terminal segment of the body ; the texture and position of the mandibles ; form of the 

 prosternum and number of joints in the antennae. A more interesting plan of distribution of the L amel l ic ornes 

 derived from the habits of the insects, is also given by Mulsant as follows :— 



1. Coprophages, feeding upon excrementitious or stercorarious matters. 



a. Copromorges, deriving their subsistence from the more succulent portions of excrementitious 



matters. (Copriens, Aphodiens.) 

 b Xerophages, feeding on dry animal or partially decomposed vegetable matter. (Trogidiens.) 

 c. Coprophages, devouring excrementitious matters. (Geotrupins.) 



2. Saprophages, feeding upon decomposed vegetable matters. (Oryctesiens.) 

 8. Phyllophages, devouring leaves, divided into 



a. Phytobies, feeding chiefly upon decomposed vegetables (Calicnemiens.) 



b. Phyllophages, leaf-eaters. (Melolon thins.) 



c. Anthobies, feeding upon the petals of flowers. (Hoplia:.) 

 4. Melitophiles, feeding on the honey of flowers, divided into 



a. Dendrobies, generally residing upon trees. -i 



6. Melitophiles, generally feeding upon the honey of flowers. J 

 Dr. Burmeister's plan of arrangement differs from that of any of his predecessors, by the introduction of the 

 Lucanides into the midst of the other Lamellicornes, and by reversing the order of the groups His plan of dis- 

 tribution, given in Vol. Ill of his Handbuch der Entomologie, is as follows :— * 



1. Thalerophaga, divided into a Melitophila, b Anthobia, c Phyllophaga. 



2. Saprophaga, divided into 



A. d Xylophila ; e Pectinicornia ; and/Arenicoke. 



B. g Stercoricolae, h Coprophaga. 



Many excellent remarks upon and descriptions of new species of the Lamellicornia will be found in Mr. 

 Hope's Coleopterist's Manual, and in the text of Gufirin's Iconographie du Regne Animal. 



The typical Coprophaga with the middle legs wider apart than the rest (p. 522), have been revised by Beiche in 

 the Annals of the French Entomological Society, and various additions thereto made by myself in the Transac- 

 tions of the Zoological and Entomological Societies of London ; in which I have also described various sp> 

 from New Holland. Others from the same country have also been described by Hope (True. Ent. Soc), and 

 by Erichson in Wiegmann's Archives. 



The Phanaei have been divided by King into thirteen groups, in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy in 1841. 

 The same author has described various African Ateuchi in his splendid Symbolic Physic !•. 



The Coprophagi, with the legs inserted at equal distances apart, have been carefully investigated by Mulsant in 

 his work on the Coleoptera of France, by whom the family Aphodiida is divided as follows : — 

 1st Branch, Aphodiaires. Divided into three groups : — 



A. The Aphodiates composed of ten genera. 1. Colobopterus (A. erraticus) ; 2. Ooprimorphus (A. 



scrutator); 3. Eupleurus (A. subterraneus) ; 4. Otophorus (A. hicmorrhordalis) j 6. Teuchestes 

 (A. Fossor) ; 6. Aphodius (A. scybalarius, and thirty-four other species, molndlng a great number 

 of named varieties) ; 7. Acrossus (A. rufipes Linn, and four other species) ; 8. sfelinoptl ruSI \ prod- 

 romus, contaminatus, and two other species) ; 'J. Trichonotus (A. scropha) ; 10. Heptaulacus 

 (A. sus and two other species.) 



B. Tin- Ammseciates, comprising the genus 11, Amm.-rcius (A. elevatus). 



C. The Pleuropheratea composed of five genera. 13. Plagtogonus (A arenariua) 1 8, Oxyom 



porcatus) ; 14. Platytomus (A. sabulosus, new species) ; 15. I'leurophonia L ca IB) J 1 «:. Rhysse- 

 mus (A aaper and one new species.) 

 2ml Branch, PsanunsdJaireS containing the two genera Diastictus (A. sabuleti) and Paammodlus ' A. sul.i- 

 collis and another species). 



Tin- genera Euparia, Ryparus, nm-topisthes, and Corythoderui are lingular exotic genera allied to Aphodius, 

 described by myself in the Trans, Ent Soc, Vol. l v., and by i>r. King In the Bymbolse Phj ~ic.iv 



The Arenicidi (p. 623), with c-.xscrtcd mandiiiiis and ten-Jointed antennsa, have been revised bj myself in the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society , in which many new genera are described, a b antiful mongraph of 

 the Athyrei and Bolbocerata has been published by Dr. Slug in the Berlin Transactions, and a number of addi- 

 tional 6pecles by myself in ■ paper read before the Unnawn Bociety. All thespedei an exotic, and of great 

 variety and singular forms. The Aaanthoeeri have also bet d monographed by Qermar In his Eeltschrifk 



afaschidiua (p. 634), placed In tl bj Mi .\. belongs to t 1 » . ■ kfelolonthldsa and Cryptodua 



which Mr. mm. ay gave in his paper on the Cetoniidss of Southern Africa as the type of the CremastocheUid 



* This distribution haa been modified in his Fifth Volume so as to unite the Xylophila with the Thaleropl 

 (under tlu- new name Phaneropyga), having the four remaining Gunilii i of the Sapropfa ther, under the 



uew name of Stegopyga. 



