169 



external ones being the shortest, the central ones the longest ; the notch between 

 these last is broad, and is not plain at the base, but contains a short, broad, 

 triangular tooth.— D. Sharp, 12, St. Vincent Street, Edinburgh, Oct. 26th, 1864. 



An Aphodius new to Britain. 

 Ai'iiODius OBLiTERATUS, Panzor ; Erichs., Ins. Deuts., iii., 883, 61. 



I captured, last month, at Mickleham, two specimens of an Aphodius, which 

 I noticed at the time as being new to me ; and, last week, I took in this neighbour- 

 hood another pair of the same species. I have no doubt they are to be 

 referred to the insect named above. The only British species of Aphodius with 

 which A. obliteratus is likely to be confounded is A. contaminatus. From this 

 species it diflfers in being considerably smaller ; the clypeus is bordered with 

 yellow ; the pro-thorax is more punctured, and its sides arc without cilise : the 

 elytra are more widened behind, and are but slightly pubescent, the interstices 

 are also much less evidently punctured. — Id. 



*^* I have no doubt that this species is mixed with contaminatus in col- 

 lections, as it 131-esents an extremely close resemblance to that insect. I have long 

 had the two species separated in my own cabinet ; but, knowing the sexes in 

 Aphodius to vary much inter se, have (without proper investigation) imagined the 

 specimens of obliteratus were females of contaminatus ; and this, in spite of Dr. 

 Power's often expressed opinion that we had in England a closely allied species 

 mixed with the latter. On the 16th October last I took at Mickleham about a 

 score of examples, large and small, from at least a hundred, out of one " deposit " 

 (human), and found them all to be obliteratus. They vary in size, the largest male 

 being very nearly as big as ordinary examples of contaminatus, though the smallest 

 female was considerably smaller than any specimens I have seen of that species. 



The characters above pointed out by Mr. Sharp will amply serve to distinguish 

 both sexes of obliteratus ; I would, however, remai-k that the yellow bordering of 

 the clypeus must not bo too much relied upon, as it is indistinct in some specimens, 

 and appears also in some examples of contaminatus. The males of the two species 

 are readily to be separated by the difference in the armature of the anterior tibiaj; 

 the external apical teeth being longer in cuntam,inatus, and the spur on the inner 

 side broader, and rather obliquely truncated at its apex ; the inner spur in 

 obliteratus being thin and gradually pointed. The inner spm's of the hinder tibiae 

 are also longer and stouter in contaminates, especially in the male. The depression 

 in the metasternum of the male also affords a good diagnostic character, as far as 

 my opportunities of observation have extended, although it seems not to be men- 

 tioned bj' Erichson (loc. cit.). In contaminatus this depression is rather deeper, 

 and with a very thin medial longitudinally elevated line, which line is represented 

 by a furrow in the middle of the depression in obliteratus. 



In both species the males are the largest, with the thorax broader and rather less 

 distinctly punctured, the teeth of the anterior tibiae more developed, and the 

 interstices of the elytra a little more elevated. In the male of contaminatus the 

 interstices also are more closely punctured, and rather more thickly pubescent than 

 in the female. — E. C. Ryf. 



