28 TERTIARY INSECTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



tion ; they are abundant in sjiecies, over fort}^ having been separated, and 

 are mostly of a medium, none of a large, size. Considerabh' over one 

 hundred specimens are to be referred to the Meloidpe, Mordellidce, and Mala- 

 codermata, but the specimens do not appear to be very well preserved, 

 although about forty species may be distinguished. The Cerambycidse are 

 very beautiful, furnishing thirty or more specimens, representing more than 

 half as many species ; one fine species of a new extinct genus, Parolamia 

 rudis, has already been described, and there are others equally fine. There 

 are a dozen or more species of Bruchidfe, one of which, Spermophagus vivi- 

 ficatus, has been published. Chrysomelidse are not uncommon ; thus far I 

 have recognized about two dozen species among the sixty or eighty speci- 

 mens; one, Oryctoscirtetes protogfeus, belonging to a new genus, has 

 already been published. Nearly twenty species of Tenebrionidpe have been 

 separated, rarely represented by more than a single specimen each, and 

 there are also a few (from two to ten species each) of Silphidiie, Histerid;!?, 

 Dermestidae, Ptinidfe, and Coccinellidae, and a single sj^ecies each of Clerida? 

 and TelephoridjTe, the latter already described under the name of Chauliog- 

 nathus pristinus. Two specimens of Rhynchophora, Anthonomus defossus 

 and Eurhinus occultus, have been described ; I have already mentioned 

 the predominance of this type in opposition to the European Tertiaries ; the 

 species are very numerous, nearl}' one hundred and twenty having been 

 separated, with over five hundred specimens, and among them are a goodly 

 number of large and fine species; but some of the minutest are most admi- 

 rably preserved ; especially is this true of the sculpturing of the thorax and 

 elytra; no attempt, however, has yet been made to do more than rudely 

 separate the species, so that no details can now be given. 



Nearly a third of all the specimens I have seen from Florissant belong 

 to the Diptera. Culicidte and ChironomidjE are abundant, but not gener- 

 ally very perfect. Tipulidre are abundant and admirably preserved; of 

 the larger forms alone there appear to be several hundred specimens, and 

 apparently a considerable number of species ; the smaller Tipulida>, 

 including the Limnobina, are also abundant and well preserved. Many 

 beautiful Mycetophilidfe occur, probably twenty or thirty species. Bibi- 

 onidffi are the prevailing type among the Diptera; there must be a thousand 

 specimens belonging to this family, and on a cursory view there appears to 

 be no great variety ; probably both here and in the ants, as in some gen- 



