OF WASHINGTON. 171 
only characterized by a certain combination of a number of southern 
species. The existence of this faunal region will become evident to any 
one who, on a summer day, goes from here down to Fortress Monroe, Va. 
The difference between the Washington fauna and that of Fortress Mon- 
roe will then be found quite striking. Of this fauna I noticed about 
twenty species in the St. Augustine list not previously known from 
Florida. 
In conclusion, I would say that since the publication of my Florida list 
of Coleoptera I have carefully noted down in manuscript all additional 
species found afterwards in or recorded from Florida. These additions 
from all available sources swell the total of Coleoptera known to occur in 
Florida to about "2,400 species. A repubiication of this list is, however, 
not contemplated at present. 
Mr. Smith made some remarks on Lachnosterna, indicating 
the result obtained by an examination of the genital structure of 
some of the more common species. 
NOVEMBER i, 1888. 
Ten members present. President Schwarz in the chair. 
The following paper was read by Mr. Schwarz : 
ENTOMOLOGY IN GARCILASSO'S " CoNquEST OF FLORIDA." 
BY E A. SCHWARZ. 
Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega is not the oldest, but by far the fullest, of the 
three original historians of the famous expedition of Hernando de Soto 
through North America. The author is best known by his " History of 
Peru," his native country, and in this work he has paid a great deal of at- 
tention to natural history, and especially to zoology. Although he had 
never been himself in North America, I hoped to find in his account of 
De Soto's expedition at least some allusion to the insects of Florida,* and 
this the more so, since the author during the preparation of his work 
(completed, according to his own statement, in 1591, but not published 
before 1605) was able to get direct information from several survivors of 
the expedition. But I was disappointed ; the book contains not the slight- 
est allusion to insects, in fact, hardly any to zoology, and only a single pas- 
sage which in any way is related to entomology. The only thought of the 
Spaniards being to find precious metals, they paid of course no attention 
to anything else, and least to the zoology of the countries they traversed. 
The book teems with lengthy narrations of many unimportant incidents 
*It must be remembered that the Florida of Garcilasso's time comprised 
the whole of North America south of Canada and east of New Mexico. 
