NOTES ON THE GENUS LISSOTES, WITH 



DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



(PL VIII. and IX.) 



By Arthur M. Lea, F.E.S., Government 

 Entomologist. 



(Read October loth, 1910.) 



This genus of stag-beetles is almost confined to Tas- 

 mania (a single species being known from Victoria and 

 two from New Zealand), and in certain districts and 

 seasons almost every old log will be found to cover some 

 specimens of it. Almost all the species, as with most of 

 its sub-family, are very variable in size, in the shape of 

 the mandibles, and in the tibial dentition, so that it ap- 

 pears as if there are many more species than really exist; 

 in consequence several forms of the same species have 

 been described under different names, and in all proba- 

 bility mistakes in this respect will continue to be made, 

 except, possibly even, by those who have large series 

 under examination. 



Except in the case of a few very distinct species, it 

 appears unsafe to identify single specimens of the genus 

 from the published figures and descriptions, or to describe 

 such specimens as new. Long series of many species 

 have convinced me that all, or most of them, have nume- 

 rous varieties, that without intermediate forms appear to 

 be distinct, but which by such intermediate forms can 

 quite readily be recognised as varieties only. 



The greatest variation occurs in the mandibles of the 

 males. (3n some specimens they are twice as large as on 

 others of the same species. A decrease in their size is 

 often accompanied by a decrease in the number of cusps, 

 or these become less pronounced. When clenched also 

 the openings are smaller in proportion, owing to the 

 mandibles being more solid. The head is generally 



