476 DE. F. LEUTHNEE ON THE ODONTOLABINI. 



Linne (Mus. Lud. Ulr. p. 34) describes this species as follows : — " Scarabmus maxil- 

 losus depressus, thorace mutico capita breviore, angulis posticis excavatis. Corpus 

 totum depressum, nigrum, magnitudine Scaralei cervi; corporis pars antica sive 

 thorax cum capite longitudine non cedit toti abdomini cum elytris. Caput depressum, 

 laeve, latere inferiore scabrum ; maxillis apice tridentatis. Antennae Sc. cervi latere 

 interiore lobatse, fissee. Thorax leevis, marginatus, antice subsinuatus, angulis posticis 

 incisis. Pectus postice terminatum, angulo acuto. Elytra Isevia, glabra, non longiora 

 thorace cum capite. Abdomen ratione animalis brevissimum. Pedes nigri; tibiae 

 apice villosse. Tarsi quatuor. Habitat in Indiis." 



This description may serve as a pattern of exactitude. Thunberg added to it 

 as follows, in his monograph of Lucanidae : — " Magnitudine L. cervi, feminae, . . . caput 

 quadrangulare, antico margine excisum, pro oculis complanatum." He gave an indif- 

 ferent but recognizable figure in his pi. xii. fig. 2. But notwithstanding these descrip- 

 tions and the figure, the species has been incorrectly identified by all later authors. In 

 all the large museums of Europe which I have visited, 0. carinatus is represented 

 either by 0. siva from North India, or by 0. hellicosus from Java, to neither of which 

 species will the Linnean description at all apply. Thunberg's description clearly pointed 

 to a small male of 0. nigritus, Deyr., or 0. cingalensis. Parry ; but no one thought it 

 worth the trouble to clear up the matter. Linne's description applies so exactly to a 

 small amphiodont form of 0. nigritus, Deyr., in the British Museum, that I found 

 myself compelled (in December 1882) to recognize this species as the true 0. carinatus. 

 In order to verify my determination, I sent sketches of 0. siva (= 0. carinatus, 

 auct.) and 0. hellicosus to Prof. Aurivillius, in Stockholm, to be compared with the 

 type in the Museum at Upsala, and had the pleasure of receiving an exact drawing of 

 the Linnean type, which I reproduce on PI. XCVII. fig. 8. Prof. Aurivillius also sent 

 me the exact measurements, which agreed precisely with the Ceylonese specimen which 

 I had determined as 0. carinatus. Deyrolle had actually employed, without suspecting 

 it, the very character (" les mandibules sont fortement carcnees superieurement dans 

 leur moitie basilaire," &c.) which led Linne to apply the name " carinatus " to this 

 species. About the same time Parry described his 0. cingalensis from Ceylon, whicli, 

 however, also occurs in India. Although 0. cingalensis and 0. nigritus look very 

 unlike at first sight, both in the shape of their mandibles and prothorax, and in the 

 lustre of the elytra, it is scarcely possible to separate them as distinct species. On 

 examining a large series Deyrolle found himself obliged to indicate a third species as 

 0. intermedins, the chief character of which consists in the tibiae, which are curved, 

 instead of being straight, as in the other forms'. This shows that the characters of 

 these three supposed species are only individual and not specific. 



I have carefully examined Deyrolle' s type in Herr van Lansberge's collection, and if 



' Parry's description contradicts this, and expressly states: — "tibiis auticis curvatis," &o. But Parry 

 describes only the male telodont form, and leaves the other forms and the female unnoticed. 



