10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.89 



epipleura dull. Pygidial carina feeble, median cusp strong. Lateral 

 areas of metasternum finely sculptured, median area and that portion 

 of lateral area adjacent to posterior coxa shining, very finely and 

 sparsely punctured, median groove deep and fine, not abruptly termi- 

 nated either anteriorly or posteriorly. Abdominal sternites feebly 

 verrucose laterally, median areas smooth, basal transverse rows of pits 

 fine but sharply defined. Anterior femur with ill-defined groove 

 along anterior margin, surface shining, sparsely punctured near pos- 

 terior margin. Posterior femur strongly inflated, without marginal 

 groove, surface shining, sparsely and minutely punctured, with three 

 or four coarse punctures near the insertion of tibia. Middle and 

 posterior tibiae each with one well-defined transverse ridge and with 

 traces of two others above. Longer apical spur of posterior tibia 

 broad, twisted, and as long as the first three tarsal segments combined. 

 Length : 3-4 mm. 



Type. — In the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



Type locality. — Southern United States, probably Georgia. 



Material examined. — Many specimens from Southeastern United 

 States and one specimen taken on beach at Humacao, Puerto Rico, 

 October 8, 1935, Blackweider station 56. 



The writer does not accept the synonymy of Horn's species with 

 P. cruentus (Harold) of the Argentine. It is evident from Schmidt's 

 1922 paper that he had not seen a specimen of the true P. Mdens 

 (Horn). The transverse ridges on the middle and hind tibiae are 

 well marked, and the species runs in Schmidt's key to P. amhigwus 

 Fall and Cockerell, from which it is easily distinguished. 



Genus SAPROSITES Redtenbacher, 1858 



Saprosites Redtenbacher, 1858, Fauna Austriaca, ed. 2, p. 436.— Bates, 1887, 

 Biologia Centrali-Americana, Coleoptera, vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 92. — Retttee, 

 1892, Verb. Naturf. Ver., Briinn., vol. 30, pp. 157, 169.— Schmidt, 1922, 

 Das Tierreich, pars 45, Aphodiinae, pp. 389, 398. 



Type of genus: Saprosites peregrinus Kedtenbacher, 1858 (by 

 monotypy) . 



In habitus the species of this genus closely resemble certain 

 Ataenius, such as A. gracilis (Melsheimer). They are easily dis- 

 tinguished by the shorter and stouter tarsi and by the short but 

 clearly defined transverse ridges on the middle and hind tibiae. 

 Most of the species are found in the warmer parts of the world but 

 a few occur in the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions. In the Western 

 Hemisphere, a species, S. ventralis (Horn), has long been listed in 

 the genus Pleurophoncs but is a true and quite typical Saprosites. 

 One collection of this species was made by H. S. Barber at Marl- 

 boro, Md., in the galleries of Popilius disjunctus (Illiger), where it 



