126 Journal New York Entomological Society. [VoI. xxv. 



AMMODONUS FOSSOR ON STATEN ISLAND. 



By Wm. T. Davis, 

 New Brighton, Staten Island, N. Y. 



This beetle was described by Dr. Leconte in 1847 i" Fragmenta 

 Entomologica. Journal Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 2d 

 Series, i, p. 92, and the localities given are at Trenton and at Bath, 

 Long Island, in white sand. 



Dr. George H. Horn in his Revision of the Tenebrionidae of 

 America North of Mexico, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc, Vol. XIV, 1871, 

 p. 359, has this to say of Arnmodonus: "The generic characters are 

 of such a nature as renders any detailed description of the unique 

 species unnecessary. The margin of the body is fringed with short 

 hairs, the surface black, but densely clothed with ash-colored scales. 

 On the elytra the vestiture is less dense, and three series of rounded 

 spots are visible on each elytron, in which the scales are paler and 

 more densely placed. The under surface and legs are paler and the 

 scales sparsely scattered. Length .18-.22 inch. Not common in col- 

 lections. It has been found in considerable numbers burrowing in 

 the sand in the neighborhood of Trenton, and at Bath, Long Island." 



In The Beetles of Southern Arizona, Bull. Lab. Nat. History, 

 State University of Iowa, June, 1898, p. 310, Arnmodonus fossor is 

 recorded from Tucson, " about street lights," by H. F. Wickham. 

 In the New Jersey List (1910) it is reported from "West Bergen, 

 rare (Bischoff)." In the U. S. National Museum Collection are 

 specimens from Goliad, Texas, November 17, and Oracle, Arizona, 

 July 23, and in Mr. Charles W. Leng's collection are examples from 

 Cypress Mills, Texas, 1886 (Schaupp) ; Tucson, Arizona (Wick- 

 ham), and Medora, Kansas, May 29, 1899 (W. Knaus). Maryland 

 is given as a locality on a specimen in the collection of the Academy 

 of Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia. 



Though the above mentioned specimens are thus recorded in col- 

 lections and literature, it is probable that the western ones are 

 Ammodoiiiis granosus Fall, Canadian Entomologist, January, 1912, 



