300 Transactions.— Zoology. 
commits on our lawns and pastures. The best Known example of this family 
is the common cockchafer of the British Isles, and our species, though much 
smaller, almost rivals its destructive habits. Three specimens, viz., Odontria 
striata, O. cinnamonea, and a third and smaller kind as yet undescribed, are 
abundant in this province. I have never heard of the larger Xylonychus 
being taken in Canterbury, though it is common at Wellington. To this 
family belongs also Pyronota festiva, to which I have previously alluded. 
Next to the Melolonthide the coprophagous beetles, comprising the families 
Geotrupide, Copride, and Aphodiade, etc., are usually placed. In no section 
is the paucity of the New Zealand Coleoptera more conspicuous than in this, 
which is celebrated for the quaint and grotesque forms of the members composing 
it, and for the reverence paid to one of its species by the ancient Egyptians. 
By way of illustrating this contrast, let us take a plain frequented by 
cattle in the south of Europe, on the banks of the Tiber for instance, and 
compare it with a similar locality in New Zealand. There we shall find every 
piece of dung swarming with various species of Aphodius, Onthophagus, and 
Oniticellus. Beneath, the ground is perforated with the burrows of the huge 
horned Copris and Geotrupes, and around the m ystic Ateuchi are busily engaged 
in their sisyphean tasks, whilst the air resounds with the hum of the more 
active Gymmopleuri, and numerous Carabide are present to feed upon the other 
species. Here, on the contrary, so far as insects are concerned, all is silent 
and motionless, and the coleopterist who was totally ignorant of the history of 
New Zealand might infer a great portion of it from the absence of these beetles 
alone. Specimens of Onthophagus granulatus have been taken by Mr. Fereday 
in the province of Nelson, but as Mr. Bates considers them to be identical with 
the Australian species, there can be no doubt that they have been imported 
with cattle. I have taken an Aphodius near to Christchurch, and am disposed 
to think that this small species may be indigenous. A relative of the last- 
named beetle, Oxyomus exsculptus, is described by White, but the locality 
is not mentioned. 
But although nature, not having provided New Zealand with large 
quadrupeds, was under ro obligation to provide scavengers for the removal 
of their excrement, yet, as if anxious to supply the deficiency, she has 
furnished us with some conspicuous members of the Dynastide, a family most 
closely allied to them, Having no collection to refer to, I cannot say whether 
the two species figured by White occur in. this province, but, at least three 
species of the family are abundant on the gand-hills, At some seasons of the 
year they must be exceedingly common, for the ground is often covered with 
their dead bodies, but I have only met with one specimen alive during an 
experience of fifteen years. Doubtless some residents on the sand-hills can 
throw light on the habits of this insect, which are apparently very peculiar. 
