OF WASHINGTON. 145 
them coleopterous beyond a doubt. He had never questioned in 
his own mind the accuracy of Dr. LeConte's conclusions, but the 
discovery of the larva definitely confirmed them. 
Mr. Lugger asked whether the pupa had been found. Dr. 
Horn said he had not received it. Prof. Riley was not certain 
whether or not it was among his material. 
Mr. Schwarz read a paper on the semi-tropical insect fauna of 
Florida, with special reference to the Coleoptera, of which the 
following is an abstract :* 
While the insect fauna of the southwestern extremity of North America 
has been tolerably well studied, very little has hitherto been known of the 
insect fauna of southern Florida. That there existed in south Florida a 
small colony of West Indian forms has long been known, but quite a num- 
ber of species have also been described as being peculiar to that section. 
From a study of a collection of Coleoptera made last year in southeastern 
Florida Mr. Schwarz has come to the conclusion that this section has no 
peculiar fauna and that the West Indian colony is much richer in species 
than has hitherto been supposed. Besides this semi-tropical colony south- 
ern Florida harbors a large number of widely distributed species, while 
the true Floridian fauna is but poorly represented. The presence of this 
West Indian colony is solely due to the influence of the Gulf Stream, which 
favors the importation of West Indian plants and insects into the southern 
extremity of Florida, but prevents the extension of the fauna and flora of 
the North American continent into the West Indies. This immigration 
of West Indian forms not only takes place from Cuba, the nearest of the 
West Indian islands, but from all parts of Central America which are 
brought under the influence of the Gulf stream, namely, all of the islands 
and the coast of the Central American continent south of the peninsula of 
Yucatan. To the same agency is due the fact that the West Indian colony 
in Florida is composed o-nly of such species as, in the imago or prepar- 
atory stages, are capable of sustaining the transportation by sea from the 
West Indies. Hence the total or almost total absence of many families 
among the West Indian colony, e. g., Carabidae, rhypophagous Clavicor- 
nia, Scarabseidae, Lampyridae and Chrysomelidse, and the predominance 
of such forms as live under bark or within the wood, e. g., the Rhyn- 
chophora. Cerambycidae, Ptinidae, etc. All these semi-tropical species 
have founded a permanent colony in Florida, because their original food 
plants Which form the semi-tropical hammock of southern Florida have 
also firmly and permanently established themselves on the North Amer- 
ican continent. It is evident, therefore, that the extent of this West In- 
* Read again before the Entomological Club of the A. A. A. S, at the 
Cleveland meeting, Aug. 17, 1888, and published in Entom. Amer., iv, pp. 
165-175- 
