38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. lu 



One of the burrows produced 21 specimens. "Its larva was not seen." 

 At the present writing the larva is still unloiown. 



Collecting even the adults is a difficidt job, best accomplished by at 

 least partial excavation of the gopher bm-row. In the spring it is 

 often unnecessary to excavate the burrow completely, the Ontho- 

 phagus being found 4 to 8 feet inside the entrance in the sand at the 

 sides of the burrow. Excavation of the complete burrow is quite 

 difficult because they are often 18 to 20 feet long and may reach a 

 depth of 8 to 12 feet. Hubbard, who first investigated the insects 

 associated with the gopher tortoise, wrote (1894, p. 303), "The exca- 

 vation was in the loose yellow sand of our pine woods subsoil, and 

 when my exploration was completed, so large a pit had been dug that 

 a coach and span of horses might have been swallowed up in it." The 

 authors found Hubbard's statement very true, the only detail seem- 

 ingly omitted that, when possible, the gopher seems to terminate its 

 burrow under the roots of a tree, adding to the already difficult job 

 of excavation. 



Occasionally specunens may be procured by the simple process of 

 placing a trap can containing fermenting malt and propionic acid 

 inside the entrance of the bmTow and then sealing the burrow with 

 cardboard, paper, sticks, and sand. The next day, if the can is not 

 filled with sand by the tortoise, it often yields a niunber of the insects 

 residing in the burrow. A few Onthophagus have been taken in this 

 manner. 



Typical 0. j^olyphemi polyjjhemi seems to occur in the sandhill regions 

 of the east coast from central Florida to southern South Carolina, 

 wherever the gopher tortoise occiu-s. 



Onthophagus polyphetni sparsisetosus, new subspecies 



Plate 3, Figures 16 and 17 



HoLOTYPE. — Male major, length 6.6 mm., width 3.8 mm. Very 

 similar in form and color to the typical j)- polyphemi, differing largely 

 in the number and size of the tubercles, setae, and punctures. In 

 the following description only the features distinguishing p. sparsise- 

 tosus from polypihemi are given: Head with clypeal disc having 12 

 or fewer small punctures with tuberculate anterior margins, punctures 

 often with fine setae; frons smooth and nearly impunctate, only 

 seven punctures being evident; low carina of vertex complete, slightly 

 gradually depressed medially, highest laterally near the e3^es; vertex 

 behind carina with a row of coarse punctures; genae smooth and 

 impunctate. 



Pronotum similar in size, outline, and shape of protuberance to 

 that of typical polyphemi; pronotal surface impunctate except near 



