Chap. X. 
COLEOPTERA. 
373 
which comes next to Onitis) lias a similar sliglit crest' 
on the thorax, and the male has in the same situation a 
great projection. So again there can be no doubt that 
the little point (a) on the head of the female Onitis 
furcifer, as well of the females of two or three allied 
species, is a rudimentary representative of the cephalic 
horn, which is common to the males of so many lamel- 
licorn beetles, as in Phameus, fig. 17. The males indeed 
of some unnamed beetles in the Rritish Museum, which 
are believed actually to belong to the genus Onitis, are 
furnished with a similar horn. The remarkable nature 
of this case will be best perceived by an illustration : 
the Ruminant quadrupeds run parallel with the larnel- 
licorn beetles, in some females possessing horns as large 
us those of the male, in others having them much 
smaller, or existing as mere rudiments (though this is 
Us rare with ruminants as it is common with Lamelli- 
Corns), or in having none at all. Now if a new species 
of d e er or sheep were discovered with the female 
bearing distinct rudiments of horns, whilst the head 
of the male was absolutely smooth, we should have a 
case like that of Onitis furcifer. 
In this case the old belief of rudiments having been 
created to complete the scheme of nature is so far from 
bolding good, that all ordinary rules are completely 
broken through. The view which seems the most pro- 
bable is that some early progenitor of Onitis acquired, 
like other Lamellicorns, horns on the head and thorax, 
and then transferred them, in a rudimentary condition, 
as with so many existing species, to the female, by whom 
they have ever since been retained. The subsequent 
loss of the horns by the male may have resulted through 
fbe principle of compensation from the development of 
the projections on the lower surface, whilst the female 
bag not been thus affected, as she is not furnished with 
