chap, xxi.] INSECTS. 493 



in the Oriental and Australian regions. No genus has the 

 range of the whole family, Dorcas and Lucanus being absent 

 from Africa, while Cladognathus is unknown in the New World 

 and on the continent of Australia. The Oriental region is the 

 richest in peculiar forms, possessing 16 genera, 7 of which are 

 wholly confined to it, while 3 others only just range beyond it 

 to North China on the one side, or to the Austro-Malayan 

 islands on the other. The Australian region comes next, with 

 15 genera, of which 7 are wholly peculiar. South America has 

 12 genera, 10 of which are peculiar. The Ethiopian region has 

 10 genera, 7 of which are peculiar, and 2 of these are confined 

 to the island of Bourbon. The Palrearctic region has 8 genera, 

 and the Nearctic 5 ; one genus being peculiar to Europe, and 

 two confined to Europe and North America. The Ethiopian and 

 Oriental regions have 3 genera in common and peculiar to them ; 

 the Oriental and Australian 3 ; while the Australian and Neo- 

 tropical have 1 in common, to which may be added Strcptocerus, 

 which represents in Chili the Australian Lamprima. 



Among the special features presented by the distribution of 

 the Lucanidae, may be mentioned — the remarkable group of 

 genera, Pholidotus, Chiasognathus, and Sphcnognathus, confined 

 to Temperate South America, the Andes, and mountains of 

 Brazil ; Lucanus (19 sp.), almost confined to the Oriental and 

 Pahearctic regions, three species only inhabiting North America ; 

 Odontoldbris (29 sp.), wholly Oriental, with 2 sp. in Celebes; 

 Nigidius (11 sp.), Ethiopian, but with species in Formosa, the 

 Philippines, and Malacca; Syndesus (11 sp.), common to Australia, 

 New Caledonia, and South America ; Figulus (20 sp.), divided 

 between Africa and Madagascar on the one hand, and Australia, 

 with the Malay and Pacific Islands, on the other. 



The facts of distribution here sketched out are in perfect 

 accordance with those of many groups of Vertebrates. The 

 regions are sharply contrasted by their peculiar and character- 

 istic genera; the several relations of those regions are truly 

 indicated ; while there is a comparatively small proportion of 

 cases of anomalous or eccentric distribution. 



