SAMOUELLE'S 



error in making a second species of this insect from 

 a variety, and was followed by Mr. Marsham in his 

 Entomologia Britannka, under the name of emargi- 

 natus ; but this is a fault that many would fall into 

 if they did not possess the intermediate varieties, and 

 indeed so great is the disparity of Copris Molossus 

 (a Chinese species) that to all appearance six species 

 at least might be named were it not for intermediate 

 specimens both as to size and form, also of the horns 

 or tubercles on the head and thorax. We would 

 therefore caution our friends upon a division of 

 species from characters, the value of which is so 

 little understood : it is not impossible that those 

 stronger features may have arisen from the nourish- 

 ment that the larvae may have received, so as to 

 have rendered it larger and stronger and the fuller 

 development of such parts. 



Our speimens were taken some years since, in the 

 month of May and also early in June. 



