Mr. A. Murray on the Gernis Cercyon. 77 



the fore tarsi swollen, and one of the nails of the same feet very 

 thick and strongly curved, while in the ? these parts are in a 

 normal state. 



Var. B. Prothorax with a red or yellowish red margin, some- 

 times shortened. 



Var. C. Sph. lunatum, Fab. 



bipustulatum, Herbst. 



scarabcBoides, Illig. 

 Elytra without a spot behind the shoulder. 

 Var. D. Legs spotted with yellowish red. 

 Length 2| to 3 lines; breadth If to 2 lines. 

 Common both in Scotland and England in cow-dung, &c. 



Sph. bipvistulatum, Fab. 



Body above shining black, densely punctured; prothorax a 

 third longer in the middle than on the sides, margined on the 

 sides with yellowish red, with the hinder angles curved back- 

 wards almost in the form of a tooth ; elytra with a lateral border 

 and an apical blotch almost semicircular, both of yellowish red ; 

 under side of body brownish black; legs generally of reddish 

 yellow with a black blotch on the middle of the thighs. 



S and ? distinguished by the same characters as the preceding 

 species. 



Var. B. Sph. bipustulatum, Fab. 



hcemorrhous, Schrank. 



testudinarius, Fourc. 



marginatum, Scriba, Payk., Lat., Gyll., &c. 



scarabcBoides, Laich., Illig. 



semistriatum, De Casteln. 



Elytra with a semicircular blotch towards the extremity from 

 the sutm-e almost to the outer edge ; a. sometimes dilated to the 

 apical margin ; /3. at other times reduced to a punctiform blotch 

 near the suture ; 7. prothorax and elytra, sometimes the one 

 and sometimes the other, without a red border on the edges; 

 8. elytra generally marked with rows of punctures in strise more 

 or less distinct. 



Var. C. Sph. 4<-maculatum, Curtis, Marsh. 



marginatum, Gyll., var. c. ; Zetterst. var. c. ; Heer, 



var. d. 

 bipustulatum, Steph. syu. 



Similar to the preceding type. Elytra marked besides with a 

 subhumeral red blotch, reduced sometimes to a sort of reddish 

 transparence. 



