LABIDURA. 101 



(v.) Texture of elytra. These may be quite smooth or of a leathery 



granulated texture. 

 (vi.) Keel of elytra may attain the posterior border, or scarcely 



surpass the shoulder of the elytra, 

 (vii.) Colour of elytra. From tawuy to black ; in the latter case a 



more or less narrow red baud is usually visible along the 



suture ; the commonest form in collections is reddish-tawny 



with a red band dowu the suture and a fuscous band down 



the disc of the elytra, 

 (viii.) Development of wings. These are often prominent, often 



scarcely protruding, and often abbreviated, 

 (ix.) Colour of wings. Eeddish-brown, pale tawny, or tawny with 



a black spot, 

 (x.) Colour of abdomen. Tawny with indistinct dark dorsal stripe, 



or dark reddish chestnut, with or without the dorsal stripe, or 



almost uniform dull black, 

 (xi.) Armature of last dorsal segment. Two short sharp spines 



generally present; occasionally only one; often both are 



obsolete, 

 (xii.) Armature of forceps, d : a strong tooth may be present 



about the middle or near the apex, or may be entirely absent. 



5 : the basal denticulation varies in strength and is often 



nearly obsolete. 



As all these different foimis appear to occur irregularly in all 

 parts of the world, so that specimens from widely separated 

 localities are almost indistiuguishable, and extremes occur in the 

 same neighbourhood, specific rank should not be accepted for them 

 until it has been proved. 



It is true that certain forms are more or less restricted to 

 certain areas. Thus Kirby has described as L. truncata the 

 Australian form, in which the male forceps are strongly denticu- 

 lated as far as a median tooth and there is a second tooth near the 

 extremity, the anal points are wanting ; but even in this form 

 there is colour-aberration, from uniform tawny to tawny and deep 

 black ; the wings are long or short. Specific rank is hardly justi- 

 fied, and yet it is undoubtedly convenient to know the Australian 

 specimens as the " tmncata form," as they have an undoubted 

 though ill-defined characteristic appearance. 



Some South American forms have a very distinctive appearance. 



A pale form, with no anal points and a small second tooth not 

 quite at the extremity of the forceps, is identified by Kirby with 

 L. icterka of Serville, from India, Ceylon and China. 



A very common form in India is probably identical with 

 Brunner's variety inermis ; the size is small, the colour deep, the 

 head, pronotum and elytra being almost entirely black ; the anal 

 points are wanting; the forceps are relatively short and the 

 teeth are almost obsolete. Specimens agreeing with this form 

 occur in Japan and Java. 



In the present state of our knowledge, for the purposes of this 



