AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 51 



pair of feet, white before : abdomen with a white line each side, 

 and a broader one on the venter. 



Obs. This beautiful insect, occurred sparingly in the North- 

 Western Territory, during the advance of Major liOng's expedi- 

 tion towards lake Winnepec. I also found it at that lake, as well 

 as at the Lake of the Woods, and in other parts of Upper Canada. 

 On the expedition to the Rocky Mountains, I obtained several 

 specimens in Arkansaw, and Mr. Nuttall has recently sent me one 

 from Cambridge. 



Drury first described this insect ; his figure is that of a small 

 specimen. 



The plate represents two views of the insect, of the natural 

 size. 



DIC^LUS. Plate XXIV. 



Generic character. Mandibles destitute of an articulated nail 

 at tip; palpi sis, terminal joint, obconic, truncated; anterior 

 tibije emarginate ; two anterior tarsi dilated in the male, and 

 furnished beneath, with dense, granuliform papillae ; antennas 

 filiform ; labrum emarginated, and with a longitudinal indented 

 line ; posterior thoracic angles, covering the humeral angles. 



Ohs. As respects number of species, this is a limited group of 

 insects. Their aspect is, however, striking and peculiar, the 

 body being large, dilated, and depressed, with profoundly indented 

 striaj on their elytra ; the posterior angles of the thorax extend 

 far backward, covering the base of the elytra, so as to present no 

 interval between thorax and abdomen. Our great master, Linne, 

 would have placed these insects in his comprehensive genus 

 Carahvs, which in the modern system, is a large family, dis- 

 tinguished by the name of Carahidse, and containing nearly 

 ninety genera, of which the present is one. The genus Dt'cfflnn, 

 was established by Professor Bonelli, of Turin, in an excellent 

 essay, entitled " Observations Entomologiques," which was pub- 

 lished in the Memoirs of the Imperial Academy of Turin. 



DlC^LUS VIOLACEUS. — Specijic character. Above and beneath 

 violaceous-black ; antennae, mouth, and feet, black. 



Dicxhts violaccns Bonelli, Obs. Entom. in Mem. de 1' Acad. 

 Imper. de Turin. And the author, in the Trans. Amer. Philos. 

 See. vol. ii. New Series, p. 67. 



