Sept.. IQI41 PROCEEniNCS OF TTTE SOCIETY. 269 



Mr. Lcng, on request, repeated his views that the occurrence in Cuba of 

 many boreal genera of CarabidK, beetles which from their habit of hiding 

 under stones and logs are little liable to transportation by winds, and from 

 their inland environment are even less liable to transportation by drift, made 

 the acceptance of the theory difficult for a coleopterist. The specific identity 

 of certain cosmopolitan species is admitted and the methods by which they 

 have been transported by commerce are evident ; the specific identity of a few 

 seashore, salt marsh, and certain strong flying species is equally admitted and 

 the operation of the forces of wind and water in carrying them may be ac- 

 cepted as plausible and as probable as the similar distribution of the seeds of 

 plants by the same forces ; but the number of such cases of specific identity 

 is small and the difficulty is to account for the large number of cases of 

 generic identity between the Carabid fauna of Cuba and that of the United 

 States, amounting almost to absolute identity when comparison is made with 

 a southern state, like Florida. Furthermore, the elevation of the sea bottom, 

 supporting the coral reefs of the Cuban shore, of Florida and the Bahamas, 

 the very places indicated by Dr. Britton as constituting a flora pro\ince, can- 

 not fail to suggest a former land connection, which for the distrHjution of 

 insects need not have been of great elevation, nor even more than temporary 

 in character. If such an elevation is reasonably assumable, and it has already 

 l)een advanced to account for the Carolinian character of part of the plants 

 of Newfoundland, it would explain in a satisfactory manner the observed rela- 

 tionship. Mr. Leng added that the data for most of the islands were scanty, 

 and beyond the Cuban relation, nothing definite could be stated. 



Dr. Britton cited Bermuda as a certain example of an island, perched on 

 the peak of a submerged volcanic mountain, the population of which, in plants 

 and insects, much have reached it by wind, water or human agency, the flora 

 of which, comprising about three hundred species, is all southeastern. He 

 said that there were possibilities each way, but Bermuda furnishes an excellent 

 example of what can be accomplished without land connection ; and in view 

 of the very long time during which the forces urged have been in operation, 

 the known transportation of the eggs of Mollusca (presumably analogous to 

 those of insects) by birds, in addition to the agencies previously mentioned, 

 he leaned away from the theoretical land connection, though willing to con- 

 ider it further if evidence were forthcoming. 



Mr. Barber read a paper on " Hemiptera from Wilmington and South- 

 port, North Carolina," illustrated by many specimens caught while there with 

 Mr. Davis on his spring v^acation. Fifty-four species of Hemiptera were taken, 

 mainly Heteroptera ; the best returns came from beating cedars and pines, 

 though the beach wash-up yielded as many as twenty-five species, tempted 

 abroad by the warmth of the preceding days. The absence of stones or other 

 suitable shelter made the usual spring methods less productive than usual; rfnd 

 familiar forms predominated, though there were some conspicuous exceptions, 

 like Macrocephalus prehensilis, Baiiasa packardi, Zeliis cervicals, Z. bilobus, 

 Panonius longithts, species not found by Mr. Barber even in his two summers' 

 work in Virginia. 



