342 Transactions South African Pliilosophical Society, [vol. xii. 



Gen. COPEIS, Geoffr., 

 Plate XXXIX., fig. 25. 

 Insect. Envir. Paris, i., 1762, p. 87. 

 Litocopris, Waterh., Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1891, p. 53. 



Buccal organs of Catharsius ; the basal joint of the labial palpi is, 

 however, generally more slender, being more than twice as long as 

 broad; the general facies is the same, but the eighth stria on the 

 elytra is not carinate in the basal part, and occasionally becomes 

 obsolete in the posterior part ; the intermediate and posterior tibiae 

 are also bi-carinate, but the intermediate ones, the caringe of which 

 are generally denticulate, have no large teeth ; it does happen, how- 

 ever, that the inner upper carina in some species forming a somewhat 

 homogeneous group, G. bootes, 'pollux, ficlius, cornifrons, is hardly 

 indicated ; this occurs also in the genus Catharsius, but in the latter 

 the carina is obsolete in both the intermediate and posterior legs ; 

 the posterior tibiae have only one supra-apical tooth instead of 

 two ; the fore tibiae slant inwardly at tip, but occasionally they are 

 truncate or nearly so, and the apical spur of anterior tibiae is either 

 elongate and curving slightly outwardly, or a little thickened and 

 curving more or less abruptly inwardly. 



Waterhouse has separated from the genus, under the name of 

 Litocopris, two species which are distinguished by the absence of 

 cephalic horns, and also by the more truncate form of the anterior 

 tibiae. These characters appear to me very slight. I may add 

 that the basal joint of labial palpi of L. muticus is broad and sub- 

 quadrate as in Catharsius, but the shape of the labial palpi is often 

 specifically different. 



The genus is numerously represented in Africa, and the range of 

 some of the species is very great. I am inclined to believe that 

 many so-called species will prove to be different stages of develop- 

 ment of a much smaller number of forms. 



The genus is represented in Europe, Asia, Japan, and Ceylon. 



The normal shape of the valves of the penis is that of C. glohuli- 

 pennis (plate xxxix., fig. 35), and although it varies a little in the 

 greater or lesser lateral sinuation, this difference is too slight to 

 help in determining the species, but in two of them, C. miscllus and 

 C. cassius, the upper edge of the valve is serrate at tip with very 

 distinct, hamate teeth, and in a third species, C. amyntor, there 

 is at the base of the valve underneath a membranous vesicular 

 prominence. 



Taken as a whole, the South African species have the general facies 



