' FAMILY SCARABiEID^. 69 



of a cylindrical form : some of the species are spotted, or variously colored. During the 

 days of autumn they take wing in great numbers, flying sluggishly through the air. In 

 Europe, Lethrus cephalotus is said to devour the tender shoots of plants, particularly of 

 vines ; but this seems to be an exception to the habits common to the family. 



Aphodius bicolok (S.). 

 Quite small, brown or black-brown ; legs and beneath light fuscous : head and thorax 

 finely punctured ; edges of the elytral ridges finely notched ; clypeus widely emargi- 

 nate. Length one-fifth of an inch. 



Aphodius strigatiis. 

 Small : head and thorax very finely punctured, black, smaller than the preceding, obtuse 

 at both extremities ; clypeus convex ; feet dark piceous ; posterior angles of the thorax 

 rounded. 



Aphodius terminalis (S.). 

 Small, brown or blackish brown, shining : forelegs hairy; tips of the elytra and feet 

 rufous ; clypeus trituberculate and emarginate before ; thorax marked with subequal 

 punctures ; elytra marked with punctured striae. 



Aphodius copronimus (M.). 

 Quite small, light brown, shining : thorax rather mottled with darker brown, very finely 

 punctured. 



Aphodius femoralis (S.). 

 Blackish l>rown : edges of the thorax dilated and light brown ; elytra fujf ous and lighter 

 in front ; thighs light and translucent. Scarcely one-fifth of an inch in length. 



Aphodius aterrimus (M.). 

 Small : thorax black ; elytra dark brown ; brown beneath. 



Aphodius serval. 

 Brown : head finely punctured ; thorax dark brown ; elytra light brown and spotted^ 

 three in front, banded in the middle. 



Genus COPRIS (Geoff.). Scarabjeus (Linn.). 



Body ovate, thick and convex ; knob of the antennae terminating in three leaves ; four 

 hindlegs dilated and truncated ; scutellum none ; articulations of the labial palpi 

 three : the first joint is cylindrical, and not dilated at the internal side. 



