NORTH AMERICAN GEOTRUPINAE — HOWDEN 277 



OHIO: 5 males, 3 females. Cleveland, Columbiana County, Hudson, Nile 

 (Scioto County), Oxford, Salineville, Summit County; (1) June, (1) July, (1) 

 August, (2) September. 



PENNSYLVANIA: 57 males, 45 females. Allegheny County, Aspinwall, Butler, 

 Cumberland County, Delaware County, Dunbar, Easton, Elwood City, Forest 

 County, Harrisburg, Indian Creek (?), Jeanette, Jefferson County, Langhorne, 

 Lima, Mount Blaine (?), Philipsburg, Pittsburgh, Pocono Lake, Pocono Pines, 

 Sumneytown, Washington, Westville; (2) May, (15) June, (19) July, (29) 

 August, (7) September, (1) October. 



TENNESSEE: 2 females. Elmwood, Mount Le Conte; (1) June. 



TEXAS: 1 female. No data. 



VERMONT: 1 specimen, Bennington County, East Burke; (1) August. 



VIRGINIA: 1 male, 1 female. No data. 



WEST VIRGINIA: 5 females. Cheat Mountain, White Sulphur Springs; (2) 

 June. 



WISCONSIN: 11 males, 4 females. Dane County, Gays Mills, Lone Rock, 

 Madison, Worden (?) (Clark County) ; (1) May, (1) June, (2) July, (2) August. 



Genus Peltotrupes Blanchard 



Peltotrupes Blanchard, 1888, pp. 105, 109. — Boucomont, 1911, p. 345. — Bradley, 

 1944, p. 112.— Howden, 1952, p. 44. 



Genotype: Geotrupes chalybaeus LeConte, by monotype in Blan- 

 chard, (1888). 



Generic limitations: Given by Blanchard (1888, pp. 105, 109): 



Middle and hind tibia without external [transverse] apical ridge [carina]. 



The anterior tibiae have on the upper surface the usual inner impressed line 

 bearing a row of setae but the adjacent outer carina is quite absent .... in our 

 other Geotrupes the middle and hind thighs [femora] are flattened posteriorly 

 to receive the tibiae, and have the margins finely elevated each side while in 

 chalybaeus [now profundus] they are convex behind with a single strong margin 

 which is next to the upper side. 



Other useful characteristics are: General body shape oval and rather 

 flattened dorsoventrally, fine elytral striae, widely expanded elytral 

 margins, complete margin around pronotum, and the modification 

 of the foretibia in the males rectangularly inturned, strongly produced. 



The unusual characters exhibited by Peltotrupes caused Blanchard 

 (1888, p. 104) to state that it "is an obvious interruption in our 

 series .... It seems equally out of place among any of the exotic 

 subgenera m.entioned by Jelcel, and the proper course appears to be 

 to establish a distinct genus for it." 



I am inclined to agree with Blanchard and have elevated Peltotrupes 

 to generic ranli. It appears distinct from Geotrupes not only by 

 many of its adult structural characteristics but also by many of its 

 larval characteristics. Even biologically, Peltotrupes differs con- 

 siderably in larval habits from the habits of other known Geotrupini. 



Superficially, in general form Peltotrupes resembles some of the 

 varieties of the European Geotrupes vernalis, particularly variety 



