50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. m 



This widely ranging form, 0. orpheus orpheus, seemingly has the 

 most diverse habits in the orpheus group, and likewise shows the 

 greatest range of variation. Brown (1926) found 0. orpheus "about 

 manure in moist woodlands." We have taken occasional specimens 

 on cow or other animal dung, and a few were captured in malt traps. 

 Most of the specimens that we examined that had accompanying 

 biological data had been taken in a variety of situations associated 

 with nests or burrows. One long series from Plummcrs Island, Md., 

 came from a buzzard's nest; other specimens have been taken in 

 woodchuck, Marrn.ota monas (Linnaeus), burrows; still other speci- 

 mens from Florida have been found in wood rat {Neotoma sp.) nests. 

 Eight specimens from Tennessee were taken in a cave, possibly 

 attracted to bat guano (as is 0. cavernicoUis). Inasmuch as most of 

 the species of Onthophagus that are not general dung feeders seem to 

 have a very restricted host preference, it seems quite likely that fur- 

 ther investigation may show that three or four morphologically 

 similar species with quite diversified habits are placed here under the 

 name orpheus. This subspecies is mainly a low elevation or southern 

 woodland form, occurrmg mainly on the coastal plain in the south- 

 eastern United States and along the larger river systems in the mid- 

 west, (fig. 6). 



Onthophagus orpheus can be recognized by its shming green, reddish- 

 green, or greenish-black color; rounded or broadly shallowly emargi- 

 nate, never bidentate, clypeus; distinctly punctate pronotum, the 

 punctures with or without anterior tubercles; the broad anterior 

 pronotal hump which in male majors becomes a flat bifurcate projec- 

 tion over the head, and the moderate size, from 5 to 9 mm. in length. 



The subspecies orpheus orpheus can be distinguished by the small 

 tubercles at the anterior margins of the elytral punctures and often 

 by the pronotal punctures with tubercles; short setae are usually pres- 

 ent laterally on the pronotum, but are either lackmg or very short 

 at the posterior center portion of the disc; on the elytra, setae are 

 usually present behind the tubercles in the vague punctures. In male 

 majors the clypeal carina is never distinct, and in females the frontal 

 carina is normally highest medially. 



Onthophagus orpheus canadensis (Fabriciiis) 



Plate 4, Figures 28-30 



Copris canadensis Fabricius, 1801, p. 34. — Palisot de Beauvois, 1809, p. 92. 



Onthophagus canadensis (Fabricius) Sturm, 1826, p. 177. — Sturm, 1843, p. 107. — ■ 

 Haldeman and LeConte, 1853, p. 54. — Lacordaire, 1856, p. 54. — LeConte, 

 1863, p. 108.— Gemminger and Harold, 1869, p. 1034 —Crotch, 1874, p. 57. 



Onthophagus Iconcinnus (Laporte) Boucomont and Gillet, 1927, p. 207. 



Male majors.^ — ^Length 5.5 to 7.0 mm., width 3.5 to 3.8 mm. 

 Dorsal surfaces cupreous to green, smooth and shining between punc- 



