oiiYcxES. 275 



-!48. Oryctes nasicornis. 



Scarabseus nasicornis, L., Si/st. Nat. i, 1758, p. 340 ; Burtn., Handb. 

 Ent. V, 1847, p. 193 ; Camemno, Bull. Soc. Ent. If.al. x, 1878, p. 21, 

 Var. Geotmpes grypus, Illiff., Mar/, ii, 180-5, p. :^12. 

 Oryctes grypus, Duoal, Gen. Col. Eur. iii, pi. 19, fig. 95, 



Dark chestnut-red, usually \vith the pygidiiim and lower surface 

 lighter, and the head and prothorax darker, the latter frequently 

 nearly black. 



It is moderately elongate, smooth and shining above and clothed 

 with tawny hairs beneath. The chjpeus is tapering and blunt or 

 broadly euiarginate in front. The scutellum is irregularly punc- 

 tured, or rugose, with a smooth outer margin ; and the elytra are 

 finely and irregularly punctured, with a strongly impressed row of 

 coalescing punctures adjoining the suture and slight traces of other 

 double sei'ies. The stridulating ridges of the projiygidium are 

 exceedingly fine. The front tibia is armed with three external 

 teeth and without any tooth ou the lower surface ; the middle 

 tibiae are not much shorter than the hind ones, and each of the 

 four posterior tibias is armed at the extremity with two not very 

 acute teeth. 



cJ. There is a strongly recurved, rather compressed horn ou the 

 head, rugose at the sides and punctured in front, and the prothorax 

 is strongly angulated at the sides, which are produced forward 

 forming acute angles in front. The disc is broadly elevated 

 behind, forming a three-toothed transverse carina, and cut away 

 from the carina to the front margin. The posterior part is finely 

 punctured, the anterior declivity smooth and scarcely punctured, 

 and the sides, except in the posterior part, coarsely rugose. The 

 pygidium is very convex and quite smooth and shining, except in its 

 lateral angles, where it is very finely rugose. 



2 , The head is entirely rugose and armed only with a very 

 short conical horn directed backwards. The prothorax is rounded 

 at the sides, the front angles are not prominent, there is a slight, 

 transversely oval excavation reaching from the front margin to 

 near the middle and the surface is entirely rugose, except near the 

 bind margin, where it is punctured. The propygidium bears a 

 microscopically fine pubescence and the stridulating ridges are 

 slightly coarser than in the male. The pygidium is punctured 

 and rather thinly pubesceut, with a transverse carina which is 

 angulated in the middle. 



Length 26-40 mm,; hreadtli 13'5-19 mm. 



Baluchistan; Kashmir (^es^g Fairmaire) ; S.W. Asia ; S, & S,E. 

 Europe. 



Var. grypus, Illig. — The elytra are more smooth and shining, 

 with the punctures scarcely visible or entirely absent. Various 

 other differences which have been pointed out are inconstant and 

 of little importance. The two forms have long been regarded as 

 distinct species and the vai'iety grypus is described as the Eastern 



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