188 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



front by a transverse angular line ; palpi and antennae dirty-yellow, the 

 latter with a black knob : prothorax with a dark, discoidal, subquadran- 

 gular spot, which does not reach the anterior margin : shoulders with a 

 dusky line : tibiae and tarsi dusky rufous. 



Var. B. Larger, dusky rufous above, spots before the eyes larger and 

 subtriangular : black spot on the prothorax wider but not so near the 

 anterior margin ; shoulders of the elytra without a dusky line. [This and 

 the preceding are European species ; Kirby's descriptions of them are not 

 sufficiently definite to enable them to be identified with any of the species 

 described by Le Conte in his "Synopsis of the Hydrophilidce. of the 

 United States."' (Pro. Acad. N. S., Philada., June, 1855).] 



[123. J FAMILY HISTERID.E. 



172. Hister Paykulii Kirby. — Length of body 3^ lines. One spe- 

 cimen taken in the journey from New York to Cumberland-house. 



Body black, glossy. Head circumscribed by a rather deeply ploughed 

 furrow ; antennae piceous with a pale knob ; mandibles longer than the 

 head : prothorax rather wider behind, seemingly quite smooth, but under 

 a strong magnifier it appears thickly covered with very minute lightly 

 impressed punctures ; it is circumscribed on all sides, by a deepish furrow, 

 between this furrow and the lateral margin is another abbreviated one less 

 impressed ; elytra besides a distinct marginal furrow have three discoidal 

 subpunctured ones running from the base to nearly the apex ; between 

 the external discoidal furrow and the margin is a series of punctures near 

 the apex, representing what is called the marginal furrow, and between the 

 internal one and the suture are the traces of three others, the first just 

 discernible, drawn, but interruptedly, from the base to the apex ; the 

 second consisting of three or four punctures near the apex, and the third 

 parallel with the suture, consisting also of punctures, sometimes confluent, 

 and extending from the apex not quite half the length of the elytrum ; the 

 surface of the elytra is covered with minute punctures very lightly im- 

 pressed, so as not to be discoverable except under a good magnifier : the 

 cubit or anterior tibia is armed with three teeth, the last of which appears 

 cleft from its being furnished at the apex with two short truncated trans- 

 parent bristles, the two other teeth have only one such bristle.  



[Synonymous with H. depurator Say (Ent. Works ii. 261), a species 

 found in Canada, and taken by Agassiz's Expedition on the north shore 

 of Lake Superior.] 



173. Hister Harrisii Kirby.- — Length of body t>% lines. One 

 specimen taken in the journey from New York to Cumberland-house. 



