THE PYUODES. 



235 



The family of the Pyrodides is entirely American, and a very 

 Deaiitifnl family it is, many of the insects being large, and most of 

 them conspicuons in their colouring. They may be known by 

 the sharp horn-like projections on the shoulder of the elytra. 

 The present species, Pyrodes picUis, is a native of Brazil, and is 

 here represented of its natural size. The general colour of the 

 Beetle is dark, blackish chocolate, diversified with certain mark- 

 ings. The sides of the thorax are covered with long, almost hair 

 like scales, of a yellow colour, and two lines of similar scales 

 extend from the head over the thorax, meetin" on the scutellum. 



Fio. 111. -Pyrodes pictus. 

 (Dark chocolate and yellow.) 



The deep chocolate brown surface of the elytra is profusely 

 wrinkled and punctured, and is decorated with bold yellow 

 marks, varying greatly in shape, size, and number in different 

 individuals : generally there are three of those marks — a long, 

 pear-shaped one near the base of the elytra, with its narrow 

 end pointing towards the angular shoulder ; then a small oblong 

 mark, and lastly a long, sharply bent stripe near the tip. In 

 some specimens, however, the first and second of these marks 



