396 1>E. F. LEUTHNER ON THE ODONTOLABINI. 



Afterwards, when I studied the multifarious and puzzling literature of the subject, 

 I arrived at the following conclusions : — 



(1) Only the largest and apparently most highly developed form (PI. LXXXIX. 

 fig. 1), of which there was but one specimen in the series, agreed with Lucanus 

 dusc, Westw.', the type of which is in the British Museum (PI. LXXXIX. fig. 2), and 

 measures 4^ inches in length ; it was brought by Cuming from Manilla. " This 

 insect," says Westwood {I. c), "is very closely allied to Lucanus alces, but that species 

 has a strong tooth at the base of the mandibles on the inside. Dr. Burmeister has 

 indeed appended a note to the specimen in the British Museum collection affirming it 

 to be a variety of that species. I am well aware of the very variable size of the teeth 

 of the mandibles in the Lucani which has induced this opinion, but as it appears to me 

 to be a fixed principle that gigantic male specimens of any of the cornuted insects 

 should have the horns and teeth developed to excess, I can scarcely think that the 

 insect before us ought to be referred to a sjiecies, the ordinarily smaller males of which 

 are more strongly armed with teeth than the specimen here figured." 



Some time afterwards I had an opportunity of examining Westwood's type in the 

 British Museum, and saw another specimen in Major Parry's collection. I met with a 

 fourth in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, and have been informed that 

 there are several other specimens in difierent private collections. 



(2) It was obvious that about forty specimens, difi"ering a little in size, but which 

 all possessed a strongly developed tooth in the middle of the mandible (PI. LXXXIX. 

 fig. 3), agreed with Lucanus alces, Fabr.-, the description of which is as follows: — 

 " Caput magnum, atrum, utrinque sinuatum, depressum, fronte retusa ; maxillae [mandi- 

 bulse] exsertse capite longiores apice compressae, quadridentatse, et in medio interno dente 

 valdissimo armatse. Corpus Lucano cervo majus, nigrum, glabrum; thorax utrinque 

 bidentatus." 



Fabricius quotes Petiver', who figured the head of a gigantic specimen as long ago 

 as 1702. I saw Petiver's rare book, and also his original specimen, in the British 

 Museum. Olivier* amplifies the Fabrician description as follows: — "Les mandibules 

 sont plus longues que la tete ; elles sont arquees, comprimees a leur extremitc, armees 

 d'une tres grosse dent vers le milieu et de quatre dentelures a leur extremite, dont 

 quelques-unes paroissent se diviser en dessus." He figures this form so correctly that 

 it could not be mistaken for any other. 



(3) The third form (PI. LXXXIX. fig. 5), which is coimected with the preceding by 

 intermediate specimens, has a series of three or four irregular teeth at the base of the 



' Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1841) vol. viii. p. 124 ; Cab. Or. Ent. p. 17, pi. viii. fig. 1 (1848). 

 " Syst. Ent. p. 1. n. 1 (1775). 



* 'Jacobi Petiveri Opera historiam naturalem spectantia,' or ' Gazophylacium,' vol. i. London, mdcclxiv. 

 pi. xlvii. fig. 15 (reprinted from the original work). 



* Entomologie, i. (1) p. 8, pi. ii. fig. 3 a, h. 



