FURTHER NOTES ON THE HABITS OF GEOTRUPES 
(COLEOPTERA: GEOTRUPIDAE) 
By F. N. Young 1 , T. H. Hubbell 2 , and D. W. Hayne 2 
A previous note (Psyche, 57 (3) : 88-92) records obser- 
vations on the habits and habitat of “Geotrupes chalybaeus” 
from an atypical scrub area near Interlachen, Putnam 
County, Florida. Dr. Henry F. Howden informs us that 
these notes apply to an undescribed species. The following 
observations made in early March, 1935, apparently apply 
to Geotrupes ( Peltotrupes ) profundus Howden (= chaly- 
baeus LeConte, not Mulsant.) 
Thirteen holes, thought to be mouse burrows, were ex- 
cavated in the turkey-oak high-pine area ( Quercus laevis- 
Pinus palustris associes) west of Lake Newnan, Alachua 
County, Florida. The soil in this area is largely Lakeland 
sand (“Norfolk sand”) or similar dry sands, which usually 
have a white or very light surface layer and yellowish 
sand beneath. Such sands are somewhat more compact and 
have a denser layer of tree roots closer to the surface than 
the St. Lucie sand in which burrows were excavated near 
Interlachen. Here, as elsewhere, the “throwups” or mounds 
were largely in groups. 
Burrows were traced by inserting a wire in the hole 
beneath the “throwup”, and digging along it with a trowel. 
Some burrows could be traced by a blackened ring around 
the inside, apparently due to deposits of organic substances 
from material carried down by the beetles. The depth to 
the apparent bottom of the burrows varied from 10" to 
66", but no beetles were found in any not excavated be- 
low 48". The diameter of the burrows was rather con- 
stant at about %". Several of the burrows did not descend 
straight down as was usually the case near Interlachen, but 
deviated at various angles and then straightened again at 
department of Zoology, Indiana University 
department of Zoology, University of Michigan 
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