Amazonian Prionides. 39 



valde elevato acuto^ thorace regulariter et forte an- 

 gustato ab apice usque ad basin, elytris fortiter punc- 

 tatis. 



Long. S (mandib. incl.) 9 lin. 



A distinct species remarkable for the gradual tapering 

 of the thorax from apex to base ; so that near the base 

 it is no broader than the length. The mandibles agree 

 in shape with the group to which P. mandibularis of Perty 

 belongs, that is, they have in the cJ a very large basal or 

 molar tooth, the opposing teeth meeting in the centre, 

 near the apex is an acute tooth, and the apex itself, being 

 notched, forms two others; above, each mandible has a 

 sharply-defined triangular depression, and the surface is 

 rather coarsely punctured, and black. The submentum 

 is not separated from the gula or throat by an impressed 

 line ; it is very broad, blackish, opaque, and is covered 

 with very large and shallow circular pits, the anterior 

 edge has not a raised border or impressed line, and the 

 anterior angles are broad, and very obtuse. The orbit 

 behind the eyes is very abruptly elevated, its upper edge 

 being above the level of the eyes. The head and thorax 

 are finely punctured, the elytra coarsely punctured, and 

 the whole surface less shining than in the allied species. 



I took one example only of this species (the only Pa- 

 randra found on the Amazons) at Ega, under the bark 

 of a dead tree. 



The genus Parandra has been excluded from the family 

 of Longicorns, by some modern authors, and restored to 

 its place recently by Lacordaire. It may perhaps be 

 objected to the arrangement of the latter, that he includes 

 it in an artificial group termed '' Prionides aherrants/' 

 with a number of forms such as Hypoceplialus , Sceleocan- 

 tha, &c., with which it has nothing in common, except 

 the fact of being aberrant. Parandra would seem rather 

 to be an extreme development of the Mallodon type of 

 Prionides; its chief peculiarity, namely, linear tarsi, with 

 an onychium furnished with two bristles between the 

 tarsal claws, being lessened in importance by the fact o 

 a typical Prionid of the Mallodon group, Hystatus, 

 (Thoms.), possessing a distinct onychium. I have more- 

 over noticed that the onychium is absent, or extremely 

 reduced and destitute of bristles, in at least one species, 

 the North American P. brunnea, F. Another charac- 

 ter of the genus, the distinct fourth joint of the tarsi. 



