478 Transactions South African Philosophical Society, [vol. xii 



behind and having on each side fourteen striae of seriated punctures, 

 the eighth and eleventh, and sometimes the thirteenth, are obUterated 

 at a great distance from the base, while the outer one runs at a 

 broad distance from the outer carinate margin except in the rounded 

 posterior part ; epipleura moderately broad from the base to about 

 half the length, and overhung by the outer margin ; under side densely 

 hairy, granulate or scabrose ; prosternum strongly aculeate between 

 the coxae, metasternum more or less transversely lozenge-shaped in 

 the median part which is much reduced, and produced into a more 

 or less lanciform narrow lobe between the median coxae ; femora 

 thick, anterior tibiae strong, a little inflexed, truncate diagonally at 

 tip, and having a long, horizontal, sharp inner apical spur, pluri- 

 dentate outwardly, the teeth decreasing in size from the apical to the 

 basal one, and numbering from five to nine," intermediate and 

 posterior ones arcuate, deeply grooved on the upper part, and having 

 both edges of the groove carinate and multi-serrate above the two 

 apical teeth which are connected on each side of the groove by a 

 transverse ridge ; anterior and intermediate tarsi of equal length, 

 posterior ones very little longer, joints sub-cylindrical, claws slender 

 but much developed ; pygidium hidden under the elytra, abdominal 

 segments free. 



The outer sexual differences in the South African species are 

 sometimes very distinct, owing to the armature of the head and 

 prothorax in the male, but in many cases there is nothing to dis- 

 tinguish the female from the male, the armature being the same. I 

 have found the shape of the valves of the penis of great service in 

 discriminating between some species ; in others again, belonging to 

 the seven- and nine-dentate tibiae group, the difference is not very 

 striking, whereas in others closely allied to one another the dis- 

 similarity is nearly as great as in the genus Trox (cf. figs. 2 to 9 in 

 plate xxxvi.). 



Bolhoceras is often caught flying to the lights ; it has been met 

 with under cowdung or deposits of herbivorous animals, in the 

 manner of Goiwis. The distribution in South Africa seems to bo 

 restricted to the eastern and northern parts ; it has not been met 

 with to my knowledge in the south-western part, or in the Karroo 

 region, Knysna being the most southern and western point at which 

 it is known to occur. 



The genus is represented in Eastern, Western, and Central Africa, 

 India, Java, Arabia, Europe, Northern and Southern America, and 

 Australia. 



One South African species only {B. rufotcstaceum, Boh.) is. 



* This number applies only to the South African species. 



