GEOTRUPID.E. — GEOTRUPES. 181 



frequently at fault when he ventures an opinion regarding the 

 diversity of species — says " Magnitudine, colore admodum variat 

 Ge. stercorarius. Majores nostri supra nigri, marginibus thoracis 

 et elytrorum corporeque infra violaceo-cceruleis, &c. — Alii minores, 

 colore supra intense viridi, infra aurato-viridis, &c. — Has meras 

 varietates ut species distinxit Dom. Marsham, in Entomologia 

 Britannica; Sc. stercorarius, spiniger, foveatus, mutator: — which 

 opinion given nearly a quarter of a century since has been recently 

 assumed as a proof of the identity of certain Marshamian species 

 of this genus with Ge. stercorarius, in spite of the subsequent ob- 

 servations of Molinousky, in the first vol. of the Transactions of the 

 Natural History Society of Halle, and of the palpable diversity of the 

 insects in question, a point which I have attempted to render evident 

 in the subjoined pages, by submitting the dictum of Latreille to the 

 test of experience, truth alone being my object; while a retrograde 

 movement, solely to follow the views of a distinguished writer, 

 must inevitably lead to error and its consequences. 



The short third joint of the antennae and basal joint of the tarsi, 

 as well as the smooth unarmed thorax, will at once enable any 

 person to detect the insects of the present genus, which are usually 

 found in meadows, fields and wastes, where cattle are pastured ; 

 their use in the economy of nature being to devour the dung of 

 herbivorous animals — they abound most in the spring and autumn, 

 and very frequently are observed of an evening flying towards sun- 

 set, with a loud hum : — they are much infected with acari. 



Sp. 1. vernalis. SubhemisphcEricus violaceo-niger, nitidus ; antennarum capitulo 

 fusco, thorace elytrisque Icevibus, glabris. (Long. corp. 6 — 9 lin.) 



Sc. vernalis. Linne. — Donovan, xvi. pi. 547. f. 1.— Geo. vernalis. Steph. Catal. 

 107. No. 1105. 



Subhemispheric : glossy violet-black ; with the club of the antennse fuscous : 

 clypeus rugose, with the vertex slightly prominent: thorax very finely and 

 faintly punctate on the disc, rather coarsely so on the lateral margin, near 

 which on each side is a deep fovea : elytra very glossy, smooth, but with a 

 lens they appear faintly punctate striate, and obsoletely strigose between 

 the striae : body beneath pubescent, deep violet or greenish : posterior femora 

 denticulated in the male. 



Very variable in size and colour, specimens occurring of a rich violet-blue, greenish 

 or nearly black. 



Somewhat local ; but found in sandy situations in several places 



