1900.] Cataloijue of the Colcoptcra of South Africa. 373 



carinate {Oxyomits), and smooth or finely punctulate ; the epipleura 

 are narrow ; the prosternum is carinate longitudinally at middle and 

 the metasternum is plane in the centre and has a lozenge-shaped 

 impression and a longitudinal median impressed line ; abdomen six- 

 jointed, free ; femora moderately thick, tibiae slender, anterior ones 

 dilated towards the apex, strongly tri-dentate outwardly and serrate 

 or not above the digits, always more or less obliquely truncate at 

 tip, and having in the inner angle of the oblique part a long spur 

 curving more or less strongly, but always outwards, intermediate 

 and posterior ones dilated, truncate and ciliate at tip, not carinate 

 longitudinally on the upper side but having there two transverse 

 ciliate ridges, and armed with two long apical spurs of unequal size, 

 these spurs vary in length and are oftener than not shorter than the 

 first joint of the tarsi, but they may be as long, and are occasionally 

 longer. 



The difference between Ainmoecius Siud Aphodius is in the shape of 

 the labial palpi the joints of which are shorter and thicker ; to this 

 must be added a more convex appearance, and occasionally the 

 clypeus is dentate on each side of the emargination, but there are 

 numerous passages bridging over these generic differences. 



Oxyomus has the labial palpi intermediate in shape and thickness 

 between those of Aphodius and those of Ammoecius ; its main charac- 

 teristic consists in having ten high, sharply carinate costse on each 

 elytron, the seventh of which reaches the apex, and is sometimes 

 longer than the sixth or the eighth, and also a shorter scutellum ; 

 these characters are not restricted to Oxyomus only, and there are 

 some species of Aphodius and Ammoecius in which the costaB are 

 nearly as sharp as in some species of Oxyomus. 



Colobopterus is distinguished by the very long scutellum, and also 

 in having the pygidium not wholly hidden by the elytra. The facies 

 is somewhat different owing to the prothorax being broader than the 

 elytra, and the latter are attenuate posteriorly. 



The sexual differences are very small, except in A. rhinoceros; 

 males and females have the same cephalic armature, the tubercles 

 however are, at times, a little less pronounced in the females ; in 

 this sex the intervals, when convex, are sometimes slightly less 

 raised, and in many species the punctures on the prothorax are more 

 numerous on the discoidal part. 



All South African species of Aphodius live in dung ; some Ammoecius 

 are also found in dung, but in sandy spots. 



The genus is represented in the Old and the New World, 

 including Australia, where, however, two widely spread species 

 occurring there have been probably imported. 



