28 LAMKLUOORNU. 



mixture of fine but larger punctures ; scutelluiu finely punctured at base ; 

 elytra with crenate striae, interstices finely punctured, rather more 

 thickly so at sides than on disc ; legs blackish-brown, brownish, or 

 yellowish-brown. L. 3-4 mm. 



Male with the metasternum impressed in middle and the spur of the 

 anterior tibiae curved ; in the female the metasternum is simple, and the 

 spur of the anterior tibiae is straight. 



In dang; common and generally distributed throughout the kingdom. 



A. inquinatus, !'. Oblong, convex, shining, black, with the an- 

 terior angles of thorax usually pitchy red, and the elytra of a dirty- 

 testaceous colour, with dark patches longitudinally arranged near suture 

 and a more or less irregular dark band before sides, which is occasionally 

 obscure ; head rugose in front, antennae and palpi blackish-brown, the 

 former with the club darker ; thorax finely punctured with larger 

 punctures intermingled which are more numerous at sides ; scutelluni 

 diffusely punctured ; elytra with shallow crenate striae, extremely finely 

 pubescent ; legs reddish-brown with the under-side of the femora lighter. 

 L. 3-5| mm. 



Male with the intermediate frontal tubercle more strongly marked, 

 and the disc of thorax less closely punctured than in female j the 

 metasternum also is slightly impressed and clothed with greyish pubes- 

 cence. 



In dung ; somewhat local, but generally distributed and as a rule common through- 

 out the greater part of England ; rarer, however, further north ; Scotland, local, 

 Tweed and Forth districts ; it is probably common in parts of Ireland. 



(A. melanoBtictus, Schmidt. Very closely allied to the preceding, 

 but, as a rule, much larger, with the ground colour of the elytra of a 

 darker testaceous colour and the legs more developed, and usually 

 lighter ; the latter point, however, appears to be variable ; the sides of 

 the thorax are entirely reddish-testaceous, and the anterior black marking 

 in the second interstice of the elytra is situated in or about the middle, 

 whereas in A. inquinatus it is always before the middle ; the dark 

 markings, however, in these species of Aphodius, are often very irregular. 

 L. 3-7 mm. (H-3i lin., Erichson). 



Apparently very local and rare in Britain ; it was introduced by Mr. Rye on 

 specimens from the Manchester district (Ent. Monthly Majr. xv. 280); Wallasey, 

 Cheshire, and Crosby near Liverpool (rare, resembling suffused specimens of A. 

 inquinatus, Ellis); Withington, Cheshire (Chuppell).) 



(I inserted this species on the authority of Mr. Rye, but felt somewhat doubtful 

 about it, as specimens sent me by Mr. Cliappell did not appear to agree with Mr. Rye's 

 description ; I am, however, now strongly of opinion that the specimens on whicli the 

 species has been introduced are merely form* of A. inquinatus, and I am led to this 

 belief through the paper by L)r. Ellis, published, since I wrote the above description, 

 in the Entomological Society's Transactions, xv., 1888, in which he fully discusses 

 the question ; the chief distinguishing character, as he points out, lies in the male, 

 which in melanoitictits has the metasternal plate extremely finely punctured anil 



