632 Transactions South African Philosophical Society, [vol. xiti. 



Aphodius excultus, n. sp. 



Head and prothorax piceous fuscous, the latter has a very broad, 

 lateral pale testaceous band ; the elytra are livid testaceous with 

 two longitudinal lighter patches on each side of tbe base, the first 

 one extending on the first and second intervals to about one-eigbth 

 of the length, the other, which is shorter, is at the humeral angle ; 

 long past the median part is a patch of similar colour extending on 

 the second to fifth intervals, and continued longitudinally on the 

 fourth and fifth ; on the edge of this patch are three black elongated 

 spots, two superposed on the fourth interval, and one situated on 

 the fifth ; clypeus only very slightly sinuate in front and with the 

 gense not projecting, simple, with the frontal sparsely punctulate 

 but having in addition deeper and broader punctures, each bearing 

 a long hair, and forming a regular transverse row along the vertex ; 

 prothorax nearly parallel laterally and covered with closely-set, sub- 

 contiguous sub-fossulate punctures bearing each a setose hair; scutel- 

 lum sharply ogival ; elytra nearly oblong but slightly broader from 

 about one-fifth of the length than at or near the base, very narrowly 

 punctulate striate, with the intervals convex, tectiform and having 

 each a series of fine briefly setulose punctures in the centre ; the 

 eighth stria stops a little short of the base; anterior tibiae tri-dentate, 

 anterior tarsi short, very slender. 



Length 5 mm. ; width 2^ mm. 



In general appearance this species somewhat resembles Lordito- 

 mceus deplanatus. 



Hab. Southern Rhodesia (Salisbury). 



MACRORETRUS, n. gen. 



Mentum and general facies of Aphodius, but the genae do not 

 project beyond the line of the eyes ; it is distinguished by the 

 shape of the elytra which do not cover the pygidium, the latter is 

 not vertical, and is sharply triangular and often projects sub- 

 horizontally ; the sexual differences are also very great. In the $ 

 the inner spur of the anterior tarsi is very long, straight and 

 laminate, the. four basal joints of the intermediate tibiae are ex- 

 tremely short and thickened, the fifth, which is as long as all the 

 other four taken together, and is also thicker, has instead of claws 

 two broad, laminate lobes the outer of which is spatuliform and 

 impressed in the centre of the outer part, the inner lobe is some- 

 what hooked ; the hind tarsi are normal, the basal joint being twice 

 as long as the spur ; in the female the inner spur of the anterior 

 tibiae and the intermediate tarsi are normal. 



