130 COLEOPTERA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Two species of the first genus, and one of the second, from the 

 Atlantic States. 



Tribe VIII.— NICAGINI. 



Nicagus obscurus (Ochodaeus obscurus Lee.) is the only mem- 

 ber of this tribe known to me. It is an oval, convex insect, more 

 than a quarter of an inch long, brown, densely punctured, and 

 covered with very short pale hair. It resembles in appearance 

 some of the Sericae, or a nearly smooth Trox. It is found 

 throughout the Atlantic district. 



The head is rounded, moderately convex, the front finely mar- 

 gined ; the labrum is broadly rounded, hairy; the mandibles short, 

 pyramidal, not very prominent; the mentum is thick, triangular, 

 hairy, pointed in front; the palpi short, the last joint oval. The 

 antennas are 10-jointed, the club 3-jointed, longer in the male 

 than in the female. The anterior coxa? are large, conical, promi- 

 nent; the middle ones nearly contiguous, oblique; the epimera 

 of the mesothorax attain the coxae. The elytra cover the pygi- 

 dium. The abdomen has five free ventral segments. The legs 

 are normal in form ; the anterior tibiae are 4-toothed, the middle 

 and hind ones gradually thickened towards the tip in the female, 

 but slender in the male, with one small sharp tooth and some 

 small denticles on the outer face ; the spurs of the hind tibiae are 

 acute in the male, obtuse in the female ; the tarsi are long and 

 slender in the male, but shorter and stouter in the female ; the 

 onychium is narrow, and bears two long bristles, as in Lucanidse. 



I have been very much at a loss where to place this curious 

 insect. The joints of the club of the antennae do not appear to 

 be capable of being brought into absolute contact, as in other 

 Scarabaeidas, and the club therefore appears pectinate. I was, 

 therefore, inclined to consider it as allied to the European JEsa- 

 lus, among the Lucanidae, which genus it resembles somewhat iu 

 form; but the small size of the oral organs, and the triangular 

 mentum, have induced me rather to place it as a tribe of the 

 Laparostict Scarabasidae, and the position here given it well cor- 

 responds both with its external form and Melolonthine sexual 

 characters. Of its habits I know nothing. 



