Lucanoid Coleopiera. 65 



occasion^ I will merely refer^ as distinguishing it from 

 other allied species^ to the punctuation, which is much 

 less defined, to the form of the prothorax, which is wider 

 and more depressed, with the anterior angles more round- 

 ed, and the posterior more emarginate, and finally to the 

 total absence of the minute central tubercle of its anterior 

 margin, as exhibited in L. cancroides aiidlL.Hnbereidatvs. 

 With regard to L. cancroides of Fab. and Oliv., the 

 type specimen is in the British Museum (Banksian Col- 

 lection) and of this Prof. Westwood published a full 

 description accompanied by a figure (Ent. Mag. v. 267) ; 

 this species is unquestionably very closely allied to L. 

 suhtuherculatus, Westw. (Tr. Ent. Soc, n. s., iii. 216, 

 pi. xii. f. 2) , and to this the author himself alludes ; but 

 upon a rigid comparison of the two insects, I find that 

 L. cancroides is narrower and longer, with the punctua- 

 tion, especially on the head and prothorax, considerably 

 sparser, the latter with the posterior angles less emargi- 

 nate, the small tubercle of the centre of the anterior 

 margin simple, instead of being' slightly bifid as in L. 

 tuhercidatus, the head somewhat broader, and less exca- 

 vated in front, with the base of the mandibles internally 

 slightly more emarginate. Whether these characters will 

 prove to be constant in a long series of specimens I can- 

 not conjecture ; for the present, at all events, it may be 

 advisable, to maintain L. subtuhercidatus as a distinct 

 species. Dr. Boisduval, referring both to Fabricius and 

 Olivier, with a brief description, gives the habitat of New 

 Guinea; there must, I think, be some error, either as 

 to identity of species or as to the habitat ; in describing 

 the prothorax, he says, " thorace transverse, angulis pos- 

 ticis obliquis, punctis crebris, foveolisque diiahus im- 

 pressis ;" this latter character is certainly not to be 

 found in the type specimen, still less does New Guinea 

 accord with its habitat, which I believe unquestionably to 

 be New Holland ; I am at a loss to conceive, therefore, 

 to what species BoisduvaPs insect is to be referred. 



Nigidius formosanvs. 

 Bates, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866, p. 347. 



This new species, from the Island of Formosa, comes 

 nearest to JV^. Iceuicollis, on comparing it with specimens 

 of the same development : but it is evidently distinct, its 

 general appearance being considerably less shining, and 



