434 Mr. G. J. Arrow on a peculiar 



important features the insect is like the Aphodiinaj, especially in 

 the occurrence of two spurs to the hind tibia. The incapacity 

 for flight, the absence of eyes, and the remarkable specializa- 

 tion of the four posterior feet are features quite peculiar to the 

 genus, and no doubt all are related to myrmecophilous or 

 termitophilous habits. In certain respects there is a marked 

 resemblance to Chcetopisthes, the almost equally anomalous 

 genus in whose company it was apparently taken by Father 

 Cardon. In the organs of the mouth, the atrophy of the 

 labium, and the spinose maxilla the likeness is striking, but 

 the entirely different structure of the legs and sternum seems 

 to prove that the similarities are due to a similar manner of 

 life rather than a real relationship. In Chcetopisthes the eyes 

 are very well developed, the legs and tarsi long, the middle 

 coxjb contiguous, and there is only a single spur to the hind 

 tibia, as in the Coprinse. A series of specimens of Chceto- 

 pisthes taken by Cardon in the same locality (and probably in 

 the same nests) as the new form show that C. tcasmanni, 

 Schm., is the male of C.fulvus, Westvv., the peculiar hair- 

 fringes being characteristic of the female and the thoracic 

 lobes of the male. 



XLIX. — A peculiar neio Genus of Australian Beetles. 

 By Gilbert J. Arrow, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



(Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.) 



In forwarding, through Dr. Marshall, of the Imperial Bureau 

 of Entomology, a collection of insects from North Queens- 

 land, Dr. Illingworth has recorded for the first time a remark- 

 able habit in certain species related to the great genus Ontho- 

 phagus. Two species were found by him attached to the fur 

 of wallabies, and evidently awaiting the droppings which 

 form the food of most of the group. Specimens were even 

 found within the cloaca. That this was no exceptional 

 occurrence is shown by the adaptive modification of the feet 

 in both species. In Onihophagus the last joint and the claws 

 are exceedingly slender, and the latter feeble and quite simple 

 in form ; but in these wallaby-borne species this joint of the 

 foot forms a strong grasping apparatus, and its enlargement 

 makes the insects easily recognizable. Five species are 

 known to me which share this peculiarity, and are also 

 alike in their general form and in the absence of horns or 

 other sexual armature. All of them seem to be confined to 



