wickham: new miocene coLfc;oPTi:RA fkom Florissant. 453 

 SCARABAEIDAE. 



OXYOMUS NEAHCTICUS, Sp. IIOV. 



Plate 7, fig. 1. 



Form oblong-oval, moderately stout. Head roughly and coarsely 

 punctured, clypeus broadly arcuate, not angled nor emarginate. 

 Prothorax broader than long, sides arcuate but not sufficiently well 

 preserved to admit of exact description, disk with coarse, close, deep, 

 cribrate punctures which are circular or elliptical in outline and leave 

 a well-defined, nearly straight but narrow, almost cariniform median 

 longitudinal line. Scutellum triangular. Elytra broader behind the 

 middle, conjointly rounded at tip, strongly costate, the costae nar- 

 row, alternate ones better defined, the intervening grooves, which 

 represent the striae, each with a row of strong, deep, transversely 

 elliptical punctures. The stronger costae appear to reach the elytral 

 tips, while the weaker are somewhat abbreviated apically. Legs 

 moderately stout, but none are sufficiently perfect for description. 

 Length, 3.20 mm. 



Described from a single specimen. 



Type— No. 2,528 M. C. Z. Florissant, Col. (No. 222 S. H. 

 Scudder Coll.). 



The small size, coarse cephalic and thoracic sculpture, and costate 

 elytra lead me to place this pretty aphodiide in Oxyomus. The genus 

 is now known in North America only from the introduced European 

 0. porcatus. I have compared the fossil with European specimens of 

 0. silvestris, received years ago from Dr. Natterer, and find that the 

 former differs in having a more strongly punctate head, the median 

 thoracic line not sulcate, and the elytral costae much more distinctly 

 alternating in height. Both agree in the possession of a vague ante- 

 median lateral pronotal impression. The coarse sculpture distin- 

 guishes 0. ncardicus at once from all of the other Florissant Aphodiini. 



Ataenius patescens Scudder. 



Seven specimens are assigned here, bearing the No. 2,529-2,535 

 M. C. Z. (No. 8,411, 8,571, 10,160, 10,408, 11,796 S. H. Scudder 

 Coll., and two in which the numbers are illegible or wanting). I 

 have included under this name all the aphodiids of a little over 4 mm. 



