20 i AMi.it i(>KM \. [Aphodiu*. 



witli blackish club ; thorax large, coarsely punctured with an inter- 

 mixture of fine small punctures ; elytra short with rather strong crenate 

 striae, the interstices flat and very finely punctured ; legs black or pitchy 

 with reddish tarsi. L. 3-4 nun. 



Male with the thorax broader and more diffusely punctured on disc 

 than in the female, and with the central frontal tubercle more distinct. 



In dung ; generally distributed and common throughout the greater pnrt of 

 England and Wales ; not so common further north, and very doubtful as Scottish, 

 the only record being "Fields near Colinton and irrigated meadows at Hestalrig" 

 i Hut . din.)> which Dr. Sharp considers as very probably erroneous. I have no record 

 of the species from Ireland, but it almost certainly occurs in that country. 



A. foetens, F. Subovate, rather broad, convex, shining black with the 

 elytra bright red, and the anterior angles of thorax yellowish-red, abdomen 

 almost always red ; head finely punctured, antennae red with reddish- 

 yellow club, palpi red with the base of the last joint blackish; thorax ample, 

 with large and irregular scattered punctures, the space between being ex- 

 tremely finely punctured ; scutellum moderate, punctured ; elytra with 

 rather strong crenate striae, the interstices broad and almost smooth ; legs 

 black or reddish- black with the tarsi reddish. L. 5-7 mm. 



Male with the central frontal tubercle sharply raised, and the thorax 

 impressed in front. 



In dung; local; London district, not common, Mickleham, Shirley, Addington ; 

 St. Peter's, Kent ; Pegwell Bay ; Folkestone ; Hastings; Dover ; Glanvilles Wootton ; 

 Devou ; Bath ; Burnham, Somerset ; Swansea ; Hunstanton ; Midland districts, 

 widely distributed ; Scalby, York ; Cleethorpes ; Liverpool ; Northumberland and 

 Durham district ; Scotland, very rare, Forth district ; Dr. Sharp once found a colony 

 of the species at North Queeusferry on June 20th, 1865; Ireland, near Dublin. 



A. fimetarius, L. Black, shining, with the elytra bright red and 

 the abdomen entirely black ; very closely allied to the preceding, but 

 apart from the colour of the abdomen it may be distinguished by its 

 narrower form, shorter and evidently more transverse thorax, and pro- 

 portionally longer elytra ; the forehead in the male has the usual three 

 tubercles obsolete, and in the female they are almost wanting ; the 

 metasternum, moreover, in the former sex is impressed. L. 4-6 mm. 



In dung ; very abundant and generally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



In the "Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," vol. xxii. p. 163, will be 

 found a note by myself regarding an article by M. dos Gozis in the 

 "Revue d'Entomologie " for 1885, Nos. 4 and 5, concerning certain 

 closely allied species of Coleoptera; in this article ho says that a con- 

 venient character for separating A. fattens and A. fimetarim is presented 

 by the apical region of the elytra, which in the former is finely 

 punctured, but is still smooth and shining, and differs in no respect from 

 the interstices on the disc ; in A. Jimetarius, however, it is rugose and 

 dull, and thus differs very much from the interstices on the disc which 

 are smooth and polished ; it is certainly true that the apical region is 

 more punctured in A . fimetariut than in A. fastens, yet this may be 



