THE APHODIIN^. 235 



against the situation that has been assigned them in this 

 circle; for it is quite obvious they can hold no other 

 station. 



(208.) The Aphodiince form the last sub-family: they 

 are the least in size of the whole ; and, although not 

 very few in point of numbers, the variations in their 

 structure are comparatively slight: they differ anato- 

 mically from the Scarabceince, in having short dilated 

 coriaceous mandibles, and the pairs of feet at equal 

 distances from each other. They are also sufficiently 

 separated from the Trogince, by having their labrum 

 concealed under the clypeus ; and by their mandibles 

 being tliin, compressed, and scarcely to be called corne- 

 ous.* The scutellum is always distinct; and the head 

 and thorax are almost invariably smooth. The species 

 swarm in temperate climates, and are particularly com- 

 mon in our fields during the spring and summer 

 months, — hovering over, and very soon burying them- 

 selves, in the dung of cattle, to which they give a decided 

 preference. Their geographic range is comparatively 

 limited. Mr. MacLeay was unacquainted with any 

 from the Australian range; and we only met with a very 

 few minute species in Tropical America ; while at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, however, where large herbivorous 

 animals abound, they are not uncommon. It appears 

 that, although the majority are coprophagous, yet that 

 many live entirely upon putrid marine plants : thus 

 the former open a passage to the aberrant ScarabcBince, 

 with which we began our survey, while the latter, by 

 frequenting sandy situations, prefer the same localities 

 as the majority of the TrogincB. 



(209.) The two preceding families — the Trogince and 

 the Aphodiince — are the most limited of the whole circle. 

 We have already sufficiently treated, above, upon their 

 natural history ; and we will only further remark, that 

 we consider the Trogince, within themselves, the most 

 anomalous family of all, as it is scarcely possible to 



* Hor. Ent., p. 58. 



