10 INSECTA. 



ground, fly particularly during the evening, after sun-set, and coun- 

 terfeit death when seized. According to M. Leon Dufour, the ali- 

 mentary canal of Geotrupes, one of the principal subgenera of this 

 section, is somewhat shorter than in Copris, and the stomach presents 

 no vestige of papillae *. 



Here — Geotrupides, Mac Leay — the labium is terminated by two 

 lobes, or salient ligulae, the mandibles are generally salient and arcu- 

 ated ; the labrum is either wholly or partially exposed, and the an- 

 tennae in most of them are composed of eleven joints. The body is 

 black or reddish, and the elytra smooth or simplyi-striated. The males 

 generally have horns, or differ in other external characters from the 

 females. They feed more particularly on excrementitious matters. 



The antennae of some are composed of nine joints. 



-^GiALiA, Lat. — Aphodius, Fab. 

 The labrum short, transversal, scarcely apparent and entire ; ter- 

 minal point of the mandibles bifid ; internal lobe of the maxillae cor- 

 neous and bidentated ; the body short and inflated ; thorax transver- 

 sal ; abdomen gibbous ; the four posterior tibae thick and incised, the 

 two last terminated by two compressed and almost elliptical or spatu- 

 liform spurs ; the two anterior tibiae have no tooth on the inner side ; 

 the posterior thighs are the largest f. 



CmRON, 31ac Leay. — Diosomus, Dalin. — Sinodendron, Fab. 



The Chirones, in their antennal club, which is rather semi-pecti- 

 niform than foliaceous, approach the Lamellicornes of the second 

 tribe, where in fact they have been placed by M. Mac Leay ; but in 

 the ensemble of their other characters they belong to this section. 

 Their labium is broad, ciliate, quadridentate, and completely exposed. 

 Their mandibles are robust, in the form of an elongated triangle, 

 and have two teeth on the inner side. The two maxillary lobes are 

 coriaceous and without any kind of armature. The body is narrow, 

 elongated, and almost cylindrical; the thorax is longitudinal and se- 

 parated from the abdomen by a deep strangulation; the al)domen is 

 elongated, and the anterior tibiae are wide, digitated, and furnished 

 on the inner side, after the spur, Avith a tooth, silky at the end. The 

 thighs are lenticular, and the two anterior are the largest. There is 

 a transverse range of small tubercles on the anterior extremity of the 

 head \. 



Those of others are composed of eleven joints ||. 



Some are distinguished from all others by the antennal club in the 

 form of a reversed cone, whieh consists of joints or leaflets contorted 



* See Ann. des Sc. Nat. Ill, p. 234. 



-f- Psammodius arenarins, Gyll., Insec. Suec. I, p. 6 ; Scardbmis globosiis, Panz,, 

 Faun. Insect. Germ., XXXVII, 2 ; Aphodius armarius, Fab. 



X Sinodendron digifalum, Fab. ; Chiron digiiatus, Mac Leay, Hor. Entom., I, 

 p. 107 ; Diusomiis digifafus, Dalm., Ephem. Entom., I, p. 4. 



II This snpputation is sometimes doubtful, inasmuch as it is not always easy to 

 distinguish the joint that precedes the club, and that it may, apparently, seem con- 

 founded with the first of the club itself. The base of the second also forms a sort of 

 knot or rotula that may be taken for a joint. 



