NORTH AMERICAN GEOTRUPENAE — HOWDEN 155 



the described species under each. This was followed by a paper by 

 Schaeffer (1906) in which was published a revision of the North 

 American genera and species in the tribe Bolboceratini. In the same 

 year Boucomont (1906) published his "Catalogue Provisoire des 

 Geotrupidae." Then, in 1911, Boucomont published a revision of the 

 genera of the Geotrupinae, dealing in large part with the Bolbocera- 

 tini, in which he discussed Schaeffer's paper and proposed a number 

 of new genera and subgenera. Perhaps the most useful part of 

 Boucomont's work was his catalog of the literature of the subfamily 

 published in 1912 in Schenkling's ''Coleopterorum Catalogus." He 

 subsequently published a number of other papers, none of which dealt 

 with the American fauna. 



Following this flurry of papers there have been only a few revisions 

 of North American genera. Descriptions and keys to the species of 

 Bolhocerosoma were published by Dawson and McColloch (1924) and 

 later revised by Brown (1928, 1929). The genus Bolboceras (formerly 

 Odontaeus) was very carefully worked up by Wallis (1928, 1929). 

 Blatchley (1910, 1928) published keys to local species of Geotrupinae 

 in Indiana and Florida. These were the major contributions to the 

 taxonomy of the adult Geotrupinae until the present. O. L. Cart- 

 wright has completed (1953) a revision of the genera Brady cinetulus, 

 Bolbelasmus, Bolbocerastes, and Bolborhombus in North America, 

 and Olson, Hubbell, and Howden (1954) have discussed the genus 

 Mycotrupes. 



Information about the biology of the immature stages has accumu- 

 lated very slowly and almost all of the investigations have been by 

 Em'opeans. The earliest known biological observation was by 

 Johann L. Frisch in 1736. He not only discussed the biology, sup- 

 posedly of Geotrupes stercorarius Linn6, but also crudely pictured the 

 larva. 



Following this early work by Frisch, there were only a few scattered 

 notes on the biology for a number of years. Mulsant (1842) briefly 

 mentioned the biology and the odd larva of Geotrupes, but the first 

 fairly accurate drawings of the larva of any species of Geotrupes were 

 done by Schi0dte (1874), Unfortunately, the least accurate of his 

 drawings, the epipharynx of Geotrupes stercorarius Linne, was the 

 only one that has been reproduced on later occasions. In 1880, 

 Rupertsberger made a valuable contribution with a bibliography on 

 the biological work done up to that time on Em'opean Coleoptera. 

 He followed this with a supplement in 1894. In 1905 Kolbe discussed 

 the biology of some of the species of Geotrupinae, and in 1929 he 

 published a paper on the distribution of species of Geotrupes and the 

 evolution of their antennae. Spaney (1910) published an excellent 

 account of adult and larval biology, with drawings of larvae and pupae 



