Mr. J. Hardy on new British Coleoptera. 381 



especially the anterior, fringed with fulvous pubescence; tibiie 

 finely ciliated, their tips sometimes piceous ; tarsi rufescent. 



Vm\ p. Aph. cricetorum, MSS. olim. Female. Smaller and 

 differently shaped, being broader behind and gradually narrower 

 to the apex of the head ; posterior angles and tubercles of the 

 clypeus less distinct; thorax less convex; body beneath more 

 thinly pubescent : thorax subquadrate, widest and as broad as the 

 elytra behind, somewhat parallel on the sides, narrower but wider 

 than the clypeus in front ; it is thickly and distinctly punctured 

 throughout with a mixture of large and small punctures which 

 are rather more crowded on the sides, the former predominate. 



Var. ff. The size of the female, and having the thorax of the 

 male punctured nearly like that of the other sex. Rachills, Dum- 

 fries-shire, Rev. W. Little ; on the heaths of Berwickshire, /. H, 

 Var. 13. Prestwick Car, Northumberland, /. H. May to July. 



The Rev. W. Little has recently informed me that he has had 

 this species in his possession for several years, and having sent 

 specimens thereof to Mr. Stephens, he returned them with the 

 name " Lajoponicus/' Gyllenhal has an A. Lapponum, but not 

 being able to ascertain what its characters are, or what is the ori- 

 gin of Mr. Stephens's name, I have, with Mr. Little's concurrence, 

 adhered to that by which I had designated my specimens in con- 

 sideration of the upland tract of country which they inhabited. 



Obs. As the sexual distinctions in Aphodius have been little 

 attended to, I may state the process by which I became convinced 

 of the propriety of uniting these apparently distinct insects. I 

 had often been unable to account for A. terrestris having a thorax 

 more dilated and globose in some specimens than in others, and 

 bringing both these states into a comparison with my A. suhal- 

 pinus and A. ericetorwUj I found that the globose thorax was 

 combined with a more sparingly punctured disc and a strong 

 development of the frontal tubercles, but that a crowd of punc- 

 tures was distinctive of a narrow thorax, and that along with this 

 modification the tubercles of the clypeus underwent a diminution 

 in size. Referring to A. Fossor, in which the sexes were known, 

 I found that the punctured thorax and less evident tuberculation 

 of the clypeus was a female character, while the male along with 

 its dilated thorax had, as was the case with the species under 

 review, a decided superiority in size. I had no longer any doubt 

 that my A. ericetorum was a variety of A. subalpinus. Apply- 

 ing the principle thus obtained to other species, it appears to 

 hold pretty generally among species in which the puncturing of 

 the thorax is not particularly dense. A. erraticiLS, which belongs 

 to Mulsant's genus Colobopterus, is in the latter condition. As 

 an additional instance of the former, A. sordidus may be cited. 

 In the male of this species the thorax is dilated, the disc is nearly 



