288 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



nous and not rich in species. In many places the soil has become 

 completely exhausted by constant cultivation of the sugar-cane, 

 and the fields are now overgrown by a perfect wilderness of tall 

 weeds. One of these, a gigantic Solanum, has a little insect 

 fauna of its own, which is of interest because the same species 

 {Anthonomusvaripes^ Baridius 4-maculatus, Epitrix pat"vula, 

 a sphinx larva and an aphis, with its attending Coccinellidsj are 

 to be found on the cultivated egg-plant. 



A few hundred yards distant from the settlement is the only 

 remnant of what was once an extended tropical forest about 50 

 acres being still covered with mighty trees, of which I recognize 

 only a few species. There is a delightfully dense undergrowth 

 of smaller bushes and vines, so that locomotion is quite difficult. 

 At the first sight this timberland seems to be occupied by only 

 a few species of insects, viz., Eukcrmes morio, two species of 

 Pseudomyrma (P. pallida and another brown species), and two 

 species of mosquitoes. However, a little more careful investiga 

 tion reveals an astonishing richness of insect life, chiefly Cole- 

 optera. On the living vegetation very little can be seen : a few 

 Chrysomelidas, chiefly Halticids ; a few Elateridas, a Lampyrid, 

 some Curculionidae, a peculiar genus of AleocharidaB, etc. ; but 

 on or in the dead vines and branches insects of all sorts abound 

 in specimens and species, so that I cannot possibly enumerate 

 them here. Among the Coleoptera the most characteristic forms 

 areas follows: numerous species of Cryptorhynchid Rhyncho- 

 phora of the genera Acalles, Cryptorhynchus. Pseudomus, etc. ; 

 numerous species of Anthribidas, a host of small Lamiid Ceram- 

 bycidaB of the genera Leptostylus, Lepturges, Hyperplatys, etc. ; 

 abundance of species and specimens of Elaphidion, a host of 

 little Clavicorn beetles of various families, and finally a good 

 number of small Heteromerous species. 



As a whole I find the Coleopterous fauna here more different 

 from that of semi-tropical Florida than I expected, but among 

 the species common to both countries I notice several the occur 

 rence of which in Cuba has not yet been recorded, e. g., Eustil- 

 bus princeps, Moncedus guttatus, Aspathines ovatus and 

 Eiixenus piceus. 



A good-sized creek meanders through this forest, but its bed 

 is now r dry as tinder, and the hygrophilous insect fauna has 

 retired into cracks in the soil. I noticed, however, that at sunset 

 at least a portion of this fauna comes out of the ground to enjoy 

 flying about, and by spreading a white cloth many, mostly very 

 minute, species can thus be found. Others come to light later in 

 the evening. 



A couple of miles farther out is another creek which contains 

 a few water holes with a rather uninteresting insect fauna con 

 sisting of a few Dytiscids and Hydrophilids, with many Clivina, 

 Falagria, Trogophlreus, etc., running about on the wet ground. 



