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ORIENTAL ENTOMOLOGY.
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being thus interniediate between tliese two specimens. I observed also that the spine terminating the
posterior tibife is more bent upon the base of the tarsi, even than in my figm'e 4. I have seen no male
•which AviU agree with this intermediate female in the colouring of the elytra. As however, upon a
rigid examination and comparison of male specimens with the elytra much suffused with black (fig. 2),
and those with the black occupying only about one-third of each elytron, I have failed in detecting any
specific distinction between these two insects; I can but consider them as varieties of one species.
I beheve them, however, to be constant and local, the darker ones being inhabitants of China, whilst
the lighter ones inhabit Sylhet.
The species with its varieties may therefore be thus arranged:—
LUCANUS (ODONTOLABIS) GAZELLA.
1st TYPICAL VARIETY OR GEOGEAPHICAL SUB-SPECIES. El.ytra half black aiid half pale fulvous. Hab. Siam. {Lucanus Gazdla
proper.)
•2nd VARIETY OR GEOGRAPHICAL SUB-SPECIES. Elytra one-third black and two-tliirds pale fulvous. Hab. Sylhet.
1st Sub-vaiiety of the male with large mandibles havmg a stoong tooth near tlie base {Lucanm Omera), Hope in Linn. Transxix.
p. 105, pi. X. fig. 3.
•2nd Sub-variety of male with the basal tooth of mandibles wanting {Lucanus Prinsepjni), Hope : Cat. Lucan, pp. S & 16 ;
and my Plate 26, fig. 5. Hab. Kasyah hills. In Mus. Hope.
3rd Sub-vaa-iety of the male ivith the mandibles not quite so long as the head, mth five or six rounded uTegular teeth in each
(Lxicamis licolor Fa,•.),Saunders in Trans. Ent. Soc. ii.,p. 177, pi. 16,fig. 3; L.Smmdersil Hope, Linn. Trans, xix., p. 105-
4th Sub-variety of the male, with the external teeth of all the tibia: obUterated {Limmis Aiioplocnemm Biirmeisteri), Hope
in Trans. Ent. Soc. ii., p. 279, pi. 13, fig. 3. Hab. Mysore. The only difl'erence which I have been able to detect between
this gigantic insect and L. Cuvera Hope, (L. Tr, xix., pi. 10, f. 3,) consists in the still more elongated mandibles, the sides of the
head beliind the eyes with the two spines nearly obliterated ; as well as the external teeth of all the tibiiE. I beheve these
pecuharities wiU prove to be abnormal and not specific ; in other words I consider the specimen so far monstrous.*
Female {Lucanus Sdcssertii Guer. Mill.) Souv. Voy. Deless. Ins. pi. 12, fig. 3.
3rd VARIETY OR GEOGRAPHICAL SUB-SPECIES. Elytra black with a fulvous margin about one-third of the width of the elytra.
Hab. China. {Lucanus, OdontolaUs, Gazella, Sinensis, Westw.)
Ist Sub-vaiiety of the male with large head and mandibles, the former with the fore margin elevated, and the latter armed with
a strong tooth near the base, another obtuse beyond the middle and several small ones near the tip. (Plate 26, f. 2, 2 a,
mentum, 2 b, 2 c, mesosternum.) In Mus. Parry.
2nd Sub-variety of the male, with smaller head, the fore margin not being elevated, and the mandibles not so long as the head,
elongate-tiigonate internally seiTated, (Plate 26, f. 3). In Mus. Westwood, communicated by J. Plant, jun., Esq.
Female with the head not aimed with a spine on each side behind the eyes, middle tibia; without the small lobe at the apex
witlim (Plate 26, fig. 4, 4 a, mentum more deeply punctured than in the male, and not elevated in the middle ; 4 b, 4 e,
mesosternum.) In Mus. Pai-ry.
FIGURE 6.
LUCANUS (ODONTOLABIS) CASTANOPTERUS. HOPE.
OBSERVATIONS.—The male of this species is represented in Plate 10, fig. 6, copied from the largest
individual of this sex which I have hitherto seen. From the size of the mandibles it might be mistaken
for a female, but the dissection of the abdomen has proved it to be of the opposite sex. I have seen
other males not larger than the female represented in the present plate. In both sexes the fore tibiae
are very broad and serrated (fig. 6 e, fore tibiae of male), but the most striking distinction consists in the
mentum, which in the male (fig. 6 d) is densely hairy; whilst in the female (fig. 6 a) it is nearly naked;
the mesosternum is obtuse (fig. 6 b, 6 c). The female appears to be much rarer than the male. The
specimen of the former sex now represented (in order to complete the illustration of the species) is
contained in the Kirbian Collection in the possession of the Entomological Society of London.
This species belongs to the second section of the sub-genus Odontolabis, in which the head of the
males has the sides behind the eyes not spined, containing also L. Glabratus, De Haan; L. Baladeva,
Hope, &c.
* I possess a specimen of L. glabratus De H. in which the tibial spines of the fore legs are also obsolete.
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