CENTROTUS. 285 



^ 



gin of black, and many irregular transverse patches 

 of a paler colour ; posterior wings sooty-brown at 

 the base ; yellowish-brown at the extremity, with 

 about fifteen larger and rounded spots of white, form- 

 ed by a cottonny matter. From Assam. 



MEMBRACIS FOLIATA. 

 PLATE XXIV. Fig. 2. 



THIS insect affords a good example of 'a very remark- 

 able genus, distinguished by having the prothorax 

 excessively elevated, compressed, and foliaceous, 

 extending along the back like a kind of roof, under 

 which the body 'of the insect is almost concealed. 

 It is a native of Cayenne ; about four and a half 

 lines in length (the figure being greatly magnified) ; 

 the colour blackish-brown, the gibbous thorax with 

 a broad arch, and band of white. The hemelytra 

 are oval and much longer than the wings ; the legs 

 long, flattened, and rather broad. 



PLATE XXV. 



THIS plate is devoted to the representation of three 

 species of the singular group named CENTROTUS, which 

 approaches in essential characters to the preceding. 

 Like it the prothorax is large and gibbous, produced 

 in various fantastic forms over the scutellum, which 

 is bidentate at the apex. " Of all Nature's works," 

 says Mr. Curtis, who has illustrated the genus by 

 lissections of a British species,* " amongst the insect 

 tribes, this family is the most remarkable for the gro- 

 tesque and extraordinary forms the species exhibit : 

 the thorax being produced in the shape of horns of 

 * Brit. Entom.pl. 213. 



