gyascutus

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An imaginary animal, said to be of tremendous size, and to have both legs on one side of the body much shorter than those on the other, so as to be able to keep its balance in feeding on the side of a very steep mountain.
2. n. A genus of buprestid beetles, of western North America, having the mentum rounded in front and the first joint of the hind tarsi elongated. J. L. Le Conte, 1859. See cut on preceding page.