Chap. X. COLEOPTEEA. 373 



which comes next to Onitis) has a similar slight crest 

 on the thorax, and the male has in the same situation a 

 great projection. So again there can be no doubt that 

 the little point (a) on the head of the female Onitis 

 furcifer, as well of the females of two or three allied 

 species, is a rudimentary representative of the cephalic 

 horn, which is common to the males of so many lamel- 

 licorn beetles, as in Phaneeus, fig. 17. The males indeed 

 of some unnamed beetles in the British Museum, which 

 are believed actually to belong to the genus Onitis, are 

 furnished with a similar horn. The remarkable nature 

 of this case will be best perceived by an illustration : 

 the Ruminant quadrupeds run parallel with the laniel- 

 licorn beetles, in some females possessing horns as large 

 as those of the male, in others having them much 

 smaller, or existing as mere rudiments (though this is 

 as rare with ruminants as it is common w r ith Lamelli- 

 corns), or in having none at all. Now if a new species 

 of deer or sheep were discovered with the female 

 bearing distinct rudiments of horns, whilst the head 

 of the male was absolutely smooth, we should have a 

 case like that of Onitis furcifer. 



In this case the old belief of rudiments having been 

 created to complete the scheme of nature is so far from 

 holding good, that all ordinary rules are completely 

 broken through. The view which seems the most pro- 

 bable is that some early progenitor of Onitis acquired, 

 like other Lamellicorns, horns on the head and thorax, 

 and then transferred them, in a rudimentary condition, 

 as with so many existing species, to the female, by whom 

 they have ever since been retained. The subsequent 

 loss of the horns by the male may have resulted through 

 the principle of compensation from the development of 

 the projections on the lower surface, whilst the female 

 has not been thus affected, as she is not furnished with 



