Onthophagus. | LAMELLICORNIA. ii 
The larve of Onthophagus, like the perfect insect, are found in dung, and are very 
useful scavengers ; the female forms a separate mass of dung for each larva, about the 
size of an acorn, and buries it at a greater or less depth in the earth ; in this she de- 
posits an egg, and closes the opening; in about ten days the larva hatches, and 
begins to devour its abode, and in about two and a half months reaches its full size, 
and changes into a pupa; the pupal state only lasts for a short time; the larve are 
white, with the head yellowish, sometimes with a longitudinal greyish streak on the 
front part of the body, subcylindrical from the head to the middle abdominal seg- 
ment, and then somewhat gibbous to the sixth segment, which is furnished with a 
prominence on disc that is used by the larva for locomotion ; from thence to apex the 
body is curved downwards ; the legs are rather long, and are destitute of claws, as is 
the case with other dung-feeding species. 
Thirty-three species of the genus are found in Europe, of which 
seven occur in Britain; although they are easily recognized if compared 
together, yet the descriptions usually given by Erichson and Thomson, 
&c., are in one or two cases somewhat hard to work species out by, and 
a little apt to cause confusion. 
I. Colour unicolorous black. 
i. Head with one or two horns in male; length 5-10 mm. 
1. Head with two horns in male; thorax punctured. O, Taurus, LD. 
2. Head with the vertex in male prolonged into a 
plate terminating ina long horn; thorax punctate- 
granulate... : - > =) OF NUDANS EA: 
ii. Head with a transverse raised ridge i in male ; length 
4-44 mm.. . -. aes O. ovatus, LD. 
Il. Elytra yellowish- testaceous or fusco- testaceous, either 
almost unicolorous or with more or less pronounced 
dark markings; head with a horn on vertex in male. 
i. Elytra with dark markings very cloudy and indis- 
tinct, and, as a rule, almost unicolorous testaceous . O. ca@Nnopita, Herbst. 
ii, Elytra with dark markings distinct. 
1. Head and thorax bronze-green or coppery ; dark 
markings on elytra not, or scarcely, reticulate. 
A. Sculpture of thorax more or less granulate ; 
average size larger; pygidium more distinctly 
punctured . : lee spiel, \OvaWACGALE:. 
B. Sculpture of thorax asperate- punctate ; aver- 
age size smaller ; pyeeun more obsoletely 
punctured es O. FRACTICORNIS, Preys. 
2. Head and thorax black, ‘with very slight bronze 
reflection ; dark markings on elytra more or less 
plainly eS Cr ey ee ee ee VD NUCHICORNIS, L. 
O. taurus, L. Black, rather dull, sometimes with a slight greenish 
metallic reflection on thorax ; head rather long, semi-ovate, with a raised 
margin, rugosely punctured; antenne reddish, with blackish club ; 
thorax rounded at sides and base, with anterior angles blunt, rather 
diffusely and not strongly punctured ; elytra with feeble and obsoletely 
punctured strize, the interstices dull, sparingly punctured and sha- 
greened ; legs blackish or dark reddish-brown. L. 7-10 mm. 
Male with two lone horns on vertex of head, which are curved and 
divergent. 
