598 DR. F. LEUTHNER ON ODONTOLABINI. [Dec. 18, 



December 18, 1883. 

 Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary made the following report on the additions to the 

 Society's Menagerie during November 1883 : — 



The total number of registered additions to the Society's Mena- 

 gerie during the month of November was 109, of which 64 were by 

 presentation, 24 by purchase, 3 by birth, 6 received in exchange, 

 and 12 received on deposit. The total number of departures during 

 the same period, by death and removals, was 132. 



The most noticeable additions during the month were : — 



1 . A pair of Gold Pheasants (Thaumalea pictd), presented No- 

 vember IGth by Sir Henry AV. Tyler, and remarkable for the hen 

 bird having gradually assumed the (now nearly complete) dress of 

 the male. 



2. A young pair of the singular Deer of Mantchuria called Pere 

 David's Deer (Cervus davidianus), purchased November 16th of the 

 Societe d'Acclimatation of Paris. The only previous specimens of 

 this animal in the Society's Menagerie were the pair presented in 

 1869 by Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B. (see P. Z. S. 1869, p. 468). 

 The present pair were bred in the Zoological Gardens of BerHn from 

 imported parents. 



Dr. Franz Leuthner read an abstract of a Monograph of the. 

 Odontolabini, a subfamily of the Lucanidse. 



Dr. Leuthner commenced his work by giving an account of the 

 circumstances which had led him to undertake the study of this small 

 group of Coleoptera, in the hope of being able to throw further 

 light on difficult problems connected with the origin of species. In 

 the introductory part he dwelt upon the great difference of treatment 

 which the same group of animals or plants receives from authors 

 holding different views as to the limits of species — one author 

 often placing a number of alUed forms together, and another 

 subdividing them into many so-called species. Having spoken of 

 the necessity of examining a long series of specimens in different 

 stages, and from various localities, before such questions can be 

 definitely settled, he passed on to discuss the variability of the 

 Odontolabini, a group in which the polymorphism of the secondary 

 characters of the males reaches an extreme development. The 

 females were very similar to each other, varying little except in size, 

 but the males exhibited four very distinct phases of development of 

 mandibles, for which the author proposed the terms priodont, 

 amfhiodont, mesodont, and telodont. These forms were sharply 

 defined in some species, and in others were connected by insensible 

 gradations, and the various forms had been treated by earlier 

 authors as distinct species. All the four forms were not met with 

 in every species, some exhibiting only one, two, or three of them. Dr. 

 Leuthner also remarked on the variability exhibited by different por- 



