Amazonian Prionides, 
39 
valde elevato acutOj thorace regulariter et forte an- 
gustato ab apice usque ad basiu^ elytris fortiter punc- 
tatis. 
Long. S (mandib. incl.) 9 lin. 
A distinct species remarkable for tbe 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 d 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 aberrants/^ 
with a number of forms such as Hypocephalus , 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, HystatuSj 
(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 E^orth American P. brunnea, F. Another charac- 
ter of the genus, the distinct fourth joint of the tarsi, 
