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Ill. On the Australian Species of the Coleopterous Genus Bolboceras, Kirby. 
By J. O. Wesrwoon, Esq., F.L.N. 
Read March 21st, 1848. 
Bor OCERAS, a genus of Lamellicorn beetles, was proposed by the Rev. W. Kirby, 
in his excellent memoir published thirty years ago, in the 12th volume of the ‘ Transac- 
tions of the Linnean Society,’ containing descriptions of New Australian Coleoptera col- 
lected by Mr. Robert Brown. In his observations appended to the Latin characters given 
of the genus, as contrasted with those of Geotrupes, Mr. Kirby more especially endeavoured 
to point out the differences between these two genera, alluding, among other things, to the 
structure of the outer lobe of the maxillæ, but not mentioning (except in the Latin cha- 
racter) the horny inner lobe, with its bipartite structure, a character (as Mr. MacLeay has 
shown) of the highest importance, as distinetly indicating a variety in the operation of 
manducation, and consequently in the nature of the food of the inseets. It is evident that 
Mr. Kirby’s description of the maxilla of Bolboceras was drawn from the inaccurate figure 
of that part given in pl. 23. fig. 5d, which omits the upper portion of the lower lobe of the 
maxilla, which is thereby reduced to a single horny point. The maxilla of Bolboceras is, 
however, almost exactly similar to that of Athyreus; indicating, in conjunction with the 
general appearance of the insects, an analogous mode of life, although the difference in the 
place of insertion of the middle feet must evidently be regarded as a proof of some distine- 
. tion in the habits of the two genera. 
Mr. Kirby's observations, it will be further seen, are directed to the structure of the 
antennæ and trophi alone. There are consequently two important characters derived from 
the external structure of the other parts of the insects which separate the two genera, 
rendering Bolboceras also as far removed from the type of the family Geotrupide as Athy- 
reus. These are, the entire structure of the eyes in Bolboceras, whilst each eye is divided 
into two parts by a distinct septum in Geotrupes, and the want of a patch of orange 
plush-like hairs on the thighs of the fore-legs, which exists in Geotrupes. 
Mr. Kirby mentions as belonging to Bolboceras, “ Sc. mobilicornis, Linn. (of which Sc. 
testaceus; Fabr., is only a variety), quadridens, Linn., farctus, Fabr., Lazarus, Fabr., Cy- 
clops, Oliv., &e.,” together with the new species which he described under the name of 
Bolboceras australasie, a name now proved to be inapplicable, not only because we pos- 
sess many Australian species of the genus, but also because the insect so described is but 
the female of another species. Of the above-mentioned species, the first, Sc. mobilicornis, 
does not belong to the genus Bolboceras, from which it is distinguished by its bipartite 
eyes, although the structure of the maxille and the want of a patch of plush on the fore 
femora show its near approach to it. It will therefore be proper to apply the generic 
name of Odonteus, given to this genus by Koppe, instead of Bolboceras, as it stands at 
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