LEPIDOCYRTUS. 151 



dont les deux premiers articles sont d'un jaune plus 

 pale, et les deux derniers d'un gris assez fonce. Corps 

 cylindrique, luisant, peu velu, a polls tres-courts. 

 Premier segment tres-allonge anterieurement, triangu- 

 laire, creux en dessous et recouvrant la tete de maniere 

 a n'en laisser voir que le bord anterieur quand on la 

 regarde en dessus. Deuxieme segment, du double plus 

 long que le suivant. Le sixieme plus long que les trois 

 precedents pris ensemble, et reconvert sur les cotes 

 lateraux par un prolongement angulaire du cinquieme. 

 Yeux noirs. Filets de la queue blancs et finement 

 stries transversalement. 



Nicolet must, I think, have had before him imma- 

 ture or injured specimens. When full-grown, and 

 unrubbed, this species is very beautiful, and reflects 

 the most gorgeous metallic tints. Its general appear- 

 ance is most singular ; the dejDressed position of the 

 head, and the gait, give it a ludricous resemblance to a 

 Hippopotamus ; and at the same time the body does not 

 look as if it belonged to the head and legs, but rather 

 as if it were some foreign object supported on the 

 animal's back. 



The head is scarcely visible from above. The fringe 

 of scales on the front of the thorax is turned down ; 

 and there are a certain number of long hairs, some of 

 them bent. 



Some of my specimens laid their eggs in October ; 

 they were deposited in heaps, and were spherical, with a 

 diameter of about j^q of an inch. They were at first 

 smooth, but after a few days were covered with filaments. 



I have also met with specimens agreeing very closely 

 with the above description, and which yet (see App.) have 

 scales of quite a different character. The only other 

 point on which these specimens differed from the others 

 is that they have a tuft of short upright hairs on the 

 front of the mesothorax. This does not appear to be 

 a sexual difference, nor am I yet prepared to regard it 

 as of specific importance. 



