AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 99 



men robust, convex ; elytra entire, not divided at the suture, 

 carinate each side, and embracing the sides of the abdomen j 

 tarsi alike in the scxos. 



Ohs. This is a limited genus, consisting in the time of Fabri 

 cius, who constructed it, of only five species. As it now stands, 

 under the reforming hand of Latrcille and Dejean, it is certainly 

 more rigidly natural. The latter author, in his " Species general 

 des Coleopt6res," describes nine species, and observes, that they 

 are limited, in their geographical distribution, to Europe, Asiatic 

 llussia, and North America ; that although they are, strictly 

 speaking, Carahici, yet they have so much the habit of the 

 Hctcromera, that Linn<5 placed them in his genus Tciwhrio. 



They are of a blackish color, glossed with a handsome metallic 

 tint, chiefly of a purplish east. They inhabit beneath stones, 

 and under prostrate logs. 



The word Cj/ckrus is derived from '^'^xr-'^, the Greek name for 

 a bird. 



Cychrus viduus. — Specific character. Black ; elytra cupre- 

 ous-violaceous, polished, humeral edge, and lateral margins of the 

 thorax reflected, the latter contracted behind. 



Ci/clirus tuilcolor Knoch neue Beytriigc, p. 187, tab. 8, fig. 1. 



Nobis, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. vol. ii. new series, p. 71. 



Cijchrus viduus Dejean, Spec. Gen. Col^op. vol. ii. p. 12, No. 9. 



Desc. Head black, with a slight blue tinge : antenna) brown 

 at tip : thorax blackish-blue, disk a little convex, and with an 

 impressed line ; lateral margins reflected; widest rather before 

 the middle, and narrowed behind ; posterior angles rounded : 

 elytra bright coppery-violaceous, or dark purplish, with numerous 

 strijE, in which are dilated, confluent punctures; beneath black. 

 Obs. Probably the largest species of the genus, and is by no 

 means common. The specimen from which the above description, 

 and the annexed figure were taken, was presented to me by IMr. 

 William Hyde of Philadelphia, who obtained it near the Susque- 

 hanna river. Two other specimens have since come into my 

 possession. 



This species was first described by Knoch, under the name of 

 wiicolor ; supposing it to be the same with that of Fabricius, 

 and on his authority, I retained the appellation in my " Descrip- 

 tions of the Carabici and Ilydrocanthari ;" but after the publica- 



