186 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



Sc. stercorarius. Linn*.— Don. viii. pi. 264. f. 3. — Ge. stercorarius. Steph. 

 Catal. 107. No. 1114. 



Oblong-oval ; black above., deep violaceous beneath ; clypeus with an acute 

 tubercle on its vertex ; thorax convex, the disc impunctate, with a simple 

 abbreviated dorsal channel behind, the lateral margins thickly punctate close 

 to the edge, with a few scattered puncta interiorly, and on each side a single 

 small glossy punctate fovea ; scutellum punctate in the centre ; elytra deeply 

 striated, the striae with impressed punctures, the interstices convex, smooth. 



Male with a solitary erect spine on the anterior tibiae within, and one or more 

 strong teeth on the inner edge of the posterior femora. 



Also variable in size and colour, but the latter more constant than in the other 

 species, the only variation consisting of a slight gloss of greenish or bluish 

 upon the upper surface. 



Extremely abundant throughout the metropolitan district ; also 

 common in Suffolk, Norfolk, the New Forest, Devonshire, near 

 Dover, Brighton, &c. " Common in Cambridgeshire ." — Rev. L. 

 Jenyns. "Plentiful in Yorkshire." — W. C. Hewitson, Esq. 

 " Abundant near Carlisle." — T. C. Heysham, Esq. " Epping." 

 — Mr. Doubleday. " Common near Swansea." — L. W. Dillwyn, 

 Esq. 



Family XXVII.— APHODIID^, MacLeay. 



Antenna; nine-jointed, the basal joint slightly elongate, the capitulum sub- 

 globose-ovate, triphyllous. Labrum concealed beneath the clypeus: man- 

 dibles hidden, subcorneous or coriaceous : maxillce with membranaceous pro- 

 cesses : palpi, maxillary filiform, naked : labial short, slightly pilose, with 

 subglobose joints: head semicircular : clypeus sometimes tuberculate : thorax 

 transverse-quadrate: scutellum distinct: body ovate, rounded at the ex- 

 tremity; somewhat convex above; completely covered by the elytra: legs 

 short, equidistant ; anterior tibice broad, tridentate externally : femora with 

 an impressed row of hairs within. 



In this family are included some of the smallest of the lamellicorn 

 insects : they differ from the Scarabseidse in having short, dilated 

 coriaceous mandibles, the pairs of legs being at equal distances from 

 each other, and the scutellum distinct; from the Geotrupidse by 

 their small bulk, the mandibles being concealed beneath the clypeus, 

 and the palpi very short and glabrous: and from the Trogidse by 

 the labrum being concealed beneath the clypeus, their mandibles 

 being thin and compressed, and the elytra not reflexed beneath 

 the apex of the abdomen : — they are chiefly coprophagous, but some 



