102 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



DESCRIPTION. 



This species appears to be the American representative of Silpha opaca, from which it differs in 

 being smaller, and proportionally narrower ; the prothorax is longer in proportion to its width, and 

 has an obsolete channel : the elytra are more distinctly punctured, and besides the ordinary elevation 

 at the termination of the external ridge, have two smaller ones at that of the other two ridges; the 

 ridge next the suture also is more elevated at its termination than in S. opaca, of which in every 

 other respect it is the exact counterpart. The elytra of the female are slightly sinuated at the apex, 

 and obtusely acuminate. 



Variety B. Quite black. 



(144) Oiceoptoma (Thanatopkilus) in^egiuale. Unequal O. Thanatophilus. 



Oiceoptoma (Thanatophilus) inaequale. Kirb. 



Silpha inaequalis. Fab. Syst. Ekuth. i, 340, 14. Oliv. Ent. ii, 11, 14, 12, t. ii, /. 20. Herbst. Ins. v, 185, 12, t. 41, /. 2. 

 Linn. Syst. Nat. Gmel. I, iv, 1620, 49. 



Length of the body 5^—6 lines. 



Several taken in the Journey from New York to Cumberland-house, and in 



Lat. 54°. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Body black, not at all glossy, minutely punctured ; punctures not visible except under a good 

 lens. Three last joints of the antennae cinereous : prothorax anteriorly emarginate with four dis- 

 coidal obtuse ridges, the lateral ones undulated and oblique and the intermediate ones straight and 

 parallel : elytra with the three customary longitudinal ridges, the outermost the shortest and most 

 elevated, and the intermediate one towards the apex curving inwards ; in the female the apex of the 

 elytra is subacuminate and very acute, but with scarcely any sinus ; in the male it is rounded. 



viii. * Subgenus Necrophila. 



Body very much dilated. 

 Epipleura very large. 



(145) 1. Oiceoptoma (Necrophila) Americanum. American O. Necrophila. 



O. Necrophila Americanum. Kirb. 



Silpha Americana. Linn. Syst. Nat. ii, 570, 7. Fab. Syst. Ekuth. i, 337, 6. Oliv. Ent. ii, 11, 8, 4, t. \,f. 9. Herbst. 



Ins. v, 176, 5. 

 Boucher Americain. Diet. Des. Sc. Nat. v, 256, 2. 

 Blatta Americana. Catesb. Carol, iii, t. x, /. 5. Seligm. Av. iv, t. cviii, /. 7. 



Length of the body 8^ ~> ,. 

 Breadth of ditto... 7 ) 



Taken in Nova Scotia by Capt. HalL 



