110 HISTERID^. 



Anterior tibiie narrower, with large teeth and 



emarginate intervals ; apex of elytra shining, 



diffusely punctured ; male organ strongly 



and evenly curved throughout ; habitat, 



carrion ....... G. noTUNDATUs,A'»(:/.(?) 



Anterior tibia3 broader, with small teeth and 



almost flat intervals; apex of elytra dull, 



closely punctured; male organ almost 



straight, bent at tip ; habitat, birds' nests . G. nidicola, Joy. 

 It must be admitted that these two species are closely allied. I'lie 

 difference in the punctuation of the apical portion of the elytra certainly 

 seems striking, and the variation of the fi'out tibije is always a good 

 character in the Histerida\ At the same time the whole question of 

 the synonymy and constitution of this small genus is far from settled. 

 Ganglbauer considers G. nannetensis, Mars., to be synonymous with 

 G. rotundatus, Kug., whereas, according to Lewis, G. rotundatus, Kug., 

 is synonymous with G. 2^unctidattijS, Thorns., and we do not possess 

 G. nannetensis at all. 



Dr. Joy rightly lays stress upon difference of habitat, but the point 

 must not be pressed too far, for, as a matter of fact, we know very 

 little about races and species, and what we now consider as species may, 

 in many cases, be races of one species which have become more or less 

 modified by the adoption of different habits and modes of living ; if it 

 is so in the higher forms of life it is probably the same in the lower also. 



SAPRINUS, Erichson. 



S. immundus, Gyll. (Ins. Suec. iv. 1827, 266). In the catalogue 

 of Heyden, lleitter and Weise (1006) this species is sunk as a variety 

 of S. ceneus, F. In the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine for January 

 181)7, Mr. E. A, Newbery discusses the question, but it seems to be 

 settled by the note of Mr. George Lewis (Ent. Mo. Mag. xxxiii. 

 (2 Ser. xiii. ) 1897, 45), where he gives the following characters : 



" Perhaps," he says, "the two most important characters noted by 

 Marseul are : (1) In S. immundus (Mon. p. 408) the prosternal striae 

 are divergent at both extremities, and in >S'. ceneus (pp. 413, 414) the 

 prosternum is narrowed in the middle and the striae are divergent 

 before and behind ; in other words, the keel of the prosternum is 

 wider in *S'. immundtis (especially in the median area) than in 

 S. ceneus, but the strife are somewhat similarly divergent in both ; (2) in 

 S. immundus the mesosternal marginal stria is interrupted ; in iS. ceneus 

 it is entire. Marseul also gives a sexual character for /S. emeus, viz. a 

 shallow impression on the metasternum of the male, which does not 

 exist in >S'. immundus, 



"These are salient and reliable characters, and there are others 

 equally so ; (3) in S. ceneus the tarsi are relatively long and slender, 

 and in S. immundus they are shorter and more robust ; (4) in S. (Eneus 

 the femora are comparatively narrow and the punctuation vague and 



