AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 51 



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

 and a broader one on tbe venter. 



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

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

 tion towards Like 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. Xuttall has recently sent me one 

 from Cambridge. 



Drury first described this insect; his figure i- tli.it of a small 

 specimen. 



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

 size. 



DHLELUS. Plate XXIV. 



Generic character. Mandibles destitute of an articulated nail 

 at tip; palpi six, terminal joint, obconic, truncated j anterior 

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

 furnished beneath, with dense, granuliform papillae; antenna? 

 filiform ; labrum emarginated, and with a longitudinal indented 

 line; posterior thoracic angles, covering the humeral an^l 



Obs. 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 

 stria> 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 ■ 

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

 tinguished by the name of Carabidse, and containing nearly 

 ninety genera, of which the present is one. The genus Dicst fas, 

 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. 



Dicjelus viOLACEus. — Specific character. Aboveand beneath 

 violaceous-black ; antenna?, mouth, and feet, black. 



Dicselus violaceus Bonelli, Obs. Entom. in Mem. del' Acad. 

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

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



