482 DE. F. LEUTHNEB ON THE ODONTOLABINI. 



Lucanidae in the most isolated islands', and made suggestions respecting the sources 

 from Avhence they may have been derived. 



As regards the subfamilies of the Lucanidse, the Lucanini are met with in Europe, 

 Asia, and North America, and the Cladognathini are found in Africa and Asia, and 

 have even some representatives in South America. But the Odontolabini have a more 

 restricted range, being confined to South-eastern Asia, the species mostly inhabiting 

 the Indian or Oriental Region. Nevertheless they extend northwards to about 35°, 

 and their range is not limited by the Straits of Macassar, for they extend from the 

 Philippines to Celebes and Sangir. They appear, however, to be absent from the 

 smaller islands which lie to the east of Java and Celebes, and which have been well 

 explored by Dutch, English, and German entomological collectors. 



The genus Odontolalis is the most widely distributed. Its species are met with in 

 India (five species), from the soutliern slopes of the Himalayas to Ceylon ; in Further 

 India and China as far as the Yellow River (four species) ; and passing down the 

 long peninsula of Malacca they extend to Sumatra and Java on the one side and on the 

 other to Borneo, Celebes, and the Philippines. No less than twenty-one species 

 (besides several varieties) are met with in the various islands. 



Neolucanus preponderates in China ^ and Further India (seven species). It is also 

 represented on the southern slope of the Himalayas (three species) and in Malacca 

 (one species), while there are only four insular species. It is remarkable that the species 

 in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo are very small, and that in two of them {N. laticollis and 

 N. munfjac, Gestro) the mandibles of the male are so little difl'erentiated that they are 

 not even forked at the tip. The genus is wholly absent from the other islands, as well 

 as from the greater part of India, and Ceylon. 



As several forms of Lucanidae are met with in Tertiary deposits ^, it is probable that 

 the present distribution of the Odontolabini may have been influenced by the distribu- 

 tion of land and water during that period. 



The development of the mandibles in the male in the species of Neolucanus shows 

 that this genus is lower than Odontolabis, which may have been gradually difierentiated 

 from it. This seems to be confirmed by Tertiary geography. The districts of Further 

 India and China, where they are still most numerous, formed part of the mainland in 

 Tertiary times, while the Himalayas and the greater part of Northern India were still 

 under the sea. Their scanty representation in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo is likewise 



' Wallace, Island Life, p. 305. ^ Aud Formosa. 



'' The following fossil Lucanidse are known to me : — 



1. Platycerus, sp., Pictet, Triiite de Paleontologie, vol. ii. p. 320. 



2. Pahcognathus sucdnifer, Waga, Annales de la Soe. Entom. de France (6) iii. pp. 191-194, pi. vii. no. 2. 



Both the above from amber. 



3. Dorcus {Eurytrachelus) pi-hnigenms, Deichmiiller, Verhandl. Leop. Carol. Akad. slii. p. 303, pi. xxi. 



tig. 1, a, h. 



