70 ORDER COLEOPTERA. 



CopRis cAROLiNus. ( Plate xii, fig. 8.) 



Body tliick, obtuse behind : cljiieus round and entire before, but furnished with a single 

 notch in front of the eye, from which there is a depressed line running backwards, 

 and terminating at the base of the tuljercles, the middle of which is much the most 

 pronjincnt and pointed. The front of the thorax rises iulo a. strong serrated ridge, and 

 there are two lateral rounded depressions : the puncta are fine, and the posterior part 

 is smooth, and marked with a slight central furrow which does not reach the elytra. 

 Elytra strongly furrowed, and pimctate. The abdomen appears as if truncated. The 

 color is dark chestnut-brown : body beneath clothed with reddish brown liairs ; the 

 mai^in of the thorax is ciliate. The dilatations of the tibiae are similar to flattened 

 funnels : the tibi® of the forelegs are thick, and have four strong notches upon their 

 outer edges. Length one inch. 

 This beetle is common in Virginia and Maryland, but I have not observed it in New- 

 York, though Cetonia and Phanceus, which accompany it there, are not uncommon here. 

 This insect does not roll up a ball, but makes a collection or heap of soft and fresh 

 manure, in which the eggs are deposited. It penetrates quite deeply into the ground be- 

 neath the droppings in pastures and by the roadsides. 



Trogidae. 



This is a family embracing but a few genera : they are ovate and gibbose, with inflex 

 elytra. The head is deliexed, the thorax short and transverse, and the surface of the elytra 

 rough. The antenna? are nine- or ten-jointed, and the extremity is formed of three leaves 

 somewhat distant from each other : the labrum is coriaceous and exserted ; the labium is 

 concealed by th? mentum ; the mandibles are horny, and sometimes toothed . 



This family is allied to the GEcxKUPiDiE. The most reliable information is that they feed 

 upon carrion, or decaying animal matter, being found in the carcases of dead animals : 

 they have also been found in rotten wood, and at the same time they are known to inhabit 

 sandy places under ground. Some of the family are apterous. 



Genus TROX ( Fabr.). Scarab.eus ( Linn.) 

 Antennae ten-jointed ; body subovate, convex ; thorax rugous. 



Trox porcatus. ( Plate xxiv, fig. ili.) 



-Dull brown : clypeus rounded in front, and marked by a shallow transverse groove, 



angulated in the middle, with small pointed tubercles on the line of flexure ; thorax 



widely groove<l in the middle ; elytra traversed by a series of reticulated lines, forming 



a species of network upon their surfaces and angles behind. Length half an inch. 



