INSECTA. 681 



having been recently published especially devoted to tnis great tribe of insects. Of these, the most important are 

 the volumes devoted to the Lamellicornes, in Mulsant's Histoire Naturelle des Coleopteres de France, and Dr. Bur- 

 raeister's Handbuch der Entomologie, Vols. Ill, IV, and V. Mulsant adopts the two groups of Scaraba^ides or 

 Petaloeerides, and Lucanides or Priocerides, and divides the former into eight families, from the structure of the 

 perfect insect and larva, namely-the Copriens, Aphodiens, Trogidiens, Geotrupins, Oryctesiens, Calicnemiens, 

 Melonthens, and Cetoniens. These famUies are chiefly characterized by the position of the legs, the exposed or 

 concealed scutellum and terminal segment of the body ; the textm-e and position of the mandibles ; form of the 

 prosternum and number of joints in the antennae. A more interesting plan of distribution of the Lamellicornes 

 derived from the habits of the insects, is also given by Mulsant as follows :— 



1. Coprophages, feeding upon excrementitious or stercorarious matters. 



a. Copromorges, deriving their subsistence from the more succulent portions of excrementitious 



matters. (Copriens, Aphodiens.) 

 6 Xerophages, feeding on dry animal or partially decomposed vegetable matter. (Trogidiens.) 

 c. Coprophages, devouring excrementitious matters. (Geotrupins.) 



2. Saprophages, feeding upon decomposed vegetable matters. (Oryctesiens.) 



3. Phyllophages, devouring leaves, divided into 



a. Phytobies, feeding chiefly upon decomposed vegetables (Calicnemiens.) 



6. Phyllophages, leaf-eaters. (Melolonthins.) 



c. Anthobies, feeding upon the petals of flowers. (IIopli;c.) 



4. Melitophiles, feeding on the honey of flowers, divided into 



a. Dendrobies, generally residing upon trees. -v 



6. Melitophiles, generally feeding upon the honey of flowers. J 

 Dr. Burmeister's plan of arrangement differs from that of any of his predecessors, by the introduction of the 

 Lucanides into the midst of the other Lamellicornes, and by reversing the order of the groups His plan of dis- 

 tribution, given in Vol. Ill of his Handbuch der Entomologie, is as follows :— * 



1. Thalerophaga, divided into a Melitophila, b Anthobia, c Phyllophaga. 



2. Saprophaga, divided into 



A. d Xylophila ; e Pectinicornia ; and/Arenicolaa. 



B. g Stercoricolaj, h Coprophaga. 



Many excellent remarks upon and descriptions of new species of the LamelUcornia will be found in Mr. 

 Hope's Coleopterist's Manual, and in the text of Guerin's Iconographie du Regne Animal. 



The typical Coprophaga with the middle legs wider apart than the rest (p. 522), have been revised by Reiche in 

 the Annals of the French Entomological Society, and various additions thereto made by myself in the Transac- 

 tions of the Zoological and Entomological Societies of London ; in which I have also described various species 

 from New Holland. Others from the same country have also been described by Hope (Proc. Ent. Soc), and 

 by Erichson in Wiegmann's Archives. 



The Phanaei have been divided by Klug into thirteen groups, in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy in 1841. 

 The same author has described various African Ateuchi in his splendid Symbols; Physica?. 



The Coprophagi, with the legs inserted at equal distances apart, have been carefully investigated by Mulsant in 

 his work on the Coleoptera of France, by whom the family Aphodiidse is divided as follows : — 

 1st Branch, Aphodiairos. Divided into three groups : — 



A. The Aphodiates composed of ten genera. 1. Colobopterus (A. erraticus) ; 2. Coprimorphus (A. 



scrutator) ; 3. Eupleurus (A. subterraneus) ; 4. Otophonis (A. hsemorrhordalis) ; 5. Teuchestes 

 (A. Fossor) ; 6. Aphodius (A. scybalarius, and thirty-four other species, including a great number 

 of named varieties) ; 7. Acrossus (A. rufipes Linn, and four other species) ; 8. MeUnopterus (A. prod- 

 romus, contaminatus, and two other species) ; 9. Trichonotus (A. scropha) ; 10. Heptaulacus 

 (A. sus and two other species.) 



B. The Ammaeciates, comprising the genus 11, Ammscius (A. elevatus). 



C. The Pleurophorates composed of tive genera. 12. Plagiogonus (A. arenai'ius) 13. Oxyomus (A. 



porcatus) ; 14. Platytomus (A. sabulosus, new species) ; 15. Pleurophorus (A. caesus) ; 16. Rhysse- 

 mus (A. asper and one new species.) 

 2nd Branch, Psammodiaires containing the two genera Diastictus (A. sabuleti) and Psammodius (A. sulci- 

 coUis and another species). 

 The genera Euparia, Ryparus, Chsetopisthes, and Corythoderus are singular exotic genera allied to Aphodius, 

 described by myself in the Trans. Ent. Soc, Vol. IV., and by Dr. Klug in the Symbolaj Physicae. 



The Arenicoli (p. 523), with exsorted mandibles and ten-jointed antennae, have been revised by myself in the 

 Transactions of the Entomological Society, in which many new genera are described. A beautiful mongraph of 

 tlie Athyrei and Bolbocerata has been published by Dr. Klug in the Berlin Transactions, and a number of addi- 

 tional species by myself in a paper read before the Linn.ean Society. All the species are exotic, and of great 

 variety and singular forms. The Acanthoceri have also been monographed by Gcrmar in his Zeitschrift. 



Mipchidius (p. 524), placed in the Trogidae by M'Lcay, belongs to the Melolontliidai and Cryptodus (p. 524), 

 which Mr. M'Leay gave in his paper on the Cetoniidae of Southern Africa as the type of the Cremastocheilides, 



= This distribution has been modified in his Fifth Volume so as to unite the Xylophila with the Thalerophaga, 

 (under the new name Phanerojiyga), leaving the foiu- remaining families of the Saprophaga together, under the 

 new name of Stegopyga. 



