28 LUCANUS ELAPIIUS. 



NOTE IX. 

 ON LUCANUS ELAPHUS, HERBST. 



BT 



C. RITSEMA Cz. 



In consequence of my enumeration of the Lucanidae 

 hitherto known as inhabiting the island of Sumatra ') (Notes 

 Leyd. Mus. 1889. p. 233), I received a letter from Mr. G. 

 Albers of Hannover, in which this well-kuown student of 

 Lucanoid Coleoptera calls my attention upon the incorrectness 

 of the supposed identity of Eurytrachelus purpurascens Vol). 

 and Lucanus elaphus Herbst (1. c. p. 236), stating that the 

 latter name almost undoubtedly is relative to Eurr/trachelus 

 concolor Blanch. {= Saiga Oliv. nee Auct.). I without delay 

 examined the question and , in consulting the figures given 

 by Voet, Herbst and Olivier, I fully agree with Albers, 

 notwithstanding Voet calls his insect in the Dutch language 

 » Americaansch vliegend Hart", and Herbst and Olivier 

 respectively mention Virginia and South America as its 

 native country. 



I do not know for what reason the Authors of the Mu- 

 nich Catalogue indicate » Sumatra" as being the habitat of 

 Lucanus elaphus Herbst , and I am sorry to have based my 

 supposition upon this incorrect statement. (See also Albers 

 in Deuts. Entom. Zeits. 1883. p. 224). 



1) Very recently (Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist. January 1890. p. 36) Mr. Chas. 

 O. Waterhouse has described a new Sumatran species of the genus Aegus un- 

 der the name of Aegus Curtisii. It is, according to the author, nearest to 

 Aegus amictus H. Deyr., though at first sight it might be supposed to be 

 allied to Aegus laevicollis Saund or EsehscIioUzi Hope. — At the same time 

 (1. c.) Mr. Waterhouse describes an Aegus-i\>tc\es from the Andaman Islands 

 under the name of Aegus Roepstorffi , which, according to specimens in our 

 Museum, inhabits also the Nicobar Islands and bears in the late Count Mnis- 

 zech's collection the name of Aegus andamanus H. Deyr. 



Notes from the L-ieyden Miuseum , Vol. XII. 



