246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. i04 



which fits blackbnrnii equally well, was actually made from a specimen 

 of this western subspecies, and as Say's name excrementi is available 

 it has been used. 



It might be mentioned here that the more northern specimens of 

 excrementi, which Say probably had, have fewer pronounced secondary 

 punctures than the southern specimens from Louisiana and Texas, 

 but the male genitalia shows little difference. 



Intergradation with hlackburnii appears rather limited (actual 

 intergrades seen were from only a few localities), but additional data 

 will probably show intergradation occurring in a general line from 

 central Ohio southward, west of the Appalachian Mountains to 

 Rockmart, Ga. Specimens beheved to be intergrades have been 

 listed under hlackburnii. The range of excrementi extends generally 

 along the Mississippi River basin. Before assigning the name 

 excrementi to this subspecies, I called it the "western subspecies" of 

 blackburnii and had identified numerous specimens in that manner. 



Since excrementi has not previously been recognized as distinct from 

 blackburnii blackburnii, the biological information published on 

 blackburnii from areas west of the Appalachian Mountains should be 

 referred to the subspecies excrementi. 



The following account, the best one available on this subspecies, 

 is quoted from Ritcher's paper (1947, p. 7), which is mainly concerned 

 with the larval morphology. 



It is fairly common at Lexington, Kentucky, especially in the early spring when 

 it can be collected in numbers from soil beneath fresh cow dung. In March, 1943, 

 the writer dug over 20 adults from burrows beneath one pile of cat dung. The 

 species is also attracted to lights .... Adults construct winding vertical bur- 

 rows in the soil and pack the lower end of each with an elongate wad of dung in 

 which a single larva develops. Winter is passed in the adult stage. 



A number of the adult beetles collected by Ritcher at Lexington, 

 Ky., were later personally examined and identified as excrementi. 

 Brown noted (1927, p. 28) that blackburnii (again subspecies excre- 

 menti) in Payne and Pawnee Counties, Okla., were common in the 

 woods, hibernating as adults in their burrows. Mohr (1943, p. 296), 

 in his work in Illinois on the succession of forms in cattle droppings, 

 described blackburnii (excrementi) as an "irregular influent" of fairly 

 fresh droppings. 



The larva of Geotrupes blackburnii excrementi was originally well 

 described by Ritcher (1947, pp. 6-7). 



Only a few of the larvae of G. blackburnii excrementi were personally 

 examined, but these seemed to differ slightly from the eastern black- 

 burnii blackburnii. The differences were evident only on the hypo- 

 pharynx and glossa (pi. 8, fig. 5). The asymmetrical oncyli were 

 slightly different in shape from those of the eastern specimens. Also 



