of Malayan Cetoniidce. 521 



formei' (extending as far east as Java, Borneo, and the 

 Philippines) having 114 species, while the latter (stretch- 

 ing from Celebes to the Solomon Islands) has bnt 70. 



This group of insects furnishes us with a very satis- 

 factory confirmation of the view that the division of the 

 Ai'chipelago just alluded to is a truly natural one, how- 

 ever much it may be occasionally masked by special 

 circumstances. No less than nine genera, Mycteristes, 

 Agestrafa, Glerota, Plectrone, Chalcothea, GentrognatUus, 

 Bhagopteryx, Macroma, and Euremina, are strictly limited 

 to the Indian region ; and two more, Heterorhina and 

 Clinteria, only pass beyond it into the closely connected 

 chain of islands from Java to Timor, and in the case of 

 a single species into Celebes. Three genera, on the 

 other hand, Schizorhina, AnacamptorJdna, and Steniojplus, 

 are restricted to the Australian region, and the genus 

 Lomaptera is almost so, only 3 species out of 25 passing 

 beyond its limits, of which one, L. striata, is the most 

 aberrant of the genus, and the other two are closely allied 

 forms which have a wide range on the continent. These 

 remarkable limitations of genera do not accord vnih. the 

 supposition that the whole Archipelago forms a single 

 zoological region, but they strikingly support the view 

 that there is a line of very ancient division between its 

 eastern and western halves, while the divisions between 

 islands and groups of islands within either half are of 

 more recent establishment, and are therefore less effi- 

 cacious in limiting the range of species or of genera. 



In classification I have not attempted to do more than 

 follow Lacordaire, and do not profess to criticize his 

 work in this very difficult family. I have proposed two 

 new genera for species that appear to me strikingly 

 distinct, and I have indicated two others that will pro- 

 bably have to be established when more materials are 

 obtained. 



The phenomena of variation are well exhibited here, 

 and there are many cases in which structural characters 

 are not a surer guide to specific distinction than colour 

 or markings. In Lomaptera pulla and Macronota regia 

 we have insects of wide range, and with such an amount 

 of variation, that few would consider it possible that the 

 extremes, considered alone, could be the same species ; 

 but these extremes are united by a series of intermediate 

 forms, many of which occur together in the same locality. 

 In other cases we have allied forms from adjacent islands 



t; u 2 



