304 Journal New York Entomological Society. tvoi. xx. 



Dr. Lutz then opened the Symposium on the Insects of Florida by stating 

 the problems that were presented, i. e., the relations between its insects and 

 those of more northern regions and of Cuba, between the insects of its own 

 northern and southern halves and the bearing of the causes that have been 

 suggested to explain the relation, the frost line for instance, the possibility of a 

 common relation with Central America, giving the opposed views of various 

 authors. He referred also to the differences in Florida itself caused by varied 

 environments and to the unexpected distribution of some Florida creatures 

 with the explanations thereof suggested by Scharff, including former land 

 bridges. He closed without expressing any personal opinion, but by asking 

 what effect, if any, on color and structure could be traced to the Florida climate. 



Mr. Davis, speaking briefly, favored accident rather than supposed land 

 bridges as an explanation of the distribution of many species. 



Dr. Osburn instanced the lung fishes as another case of remnant survival 

 in three widely separated regions. 



Mr. Schaeffer also favored accident as a satisfactory explanation for most 

 of the Coleoptera common to Florida and West Indies, mainly Carabidse and 

 wood-boring species carried ashore by accident. 



Mr. Leng, speaking of the Coleoptera, said that much work needed to be 

 done on Floridian and West Indian species before comparisons could effectively 

 be made, but that as far as the facts were known the beetles of northern Florida 

 were largely slightly modified forms of the species occurring northward, but 

 with a not inconsiderable element peculiar to the state. In southern Florida, 

 where a more or less patchy subtropical vegetation is established, less than lo 

 per cent, of the species are common to Florida and the West Indies. The 

 beetles caught by Mr. Davis in November were used, to illustrate these remarks. 

 Mr. Grossbeck, speaking of the Lepidoptera said that among the strong flying 

 Sphingidae, many species were common to Florida and the West Indies, but 

 otherwise the relation was strong between the Floridian and northern faunas. 

 As to the total number of species Mr. Grossbeck said that while the existing 

 information might be regarded as practically complete for macro-lepidoptera, 

 ^arge additions could be expected in micros. 



Mr. Barber read a carefully prepared paper on the Hemiptera, which will 

 later be published in full. He said the species now recorded number 311 against 

 405 for New Jersey and 345 for Colorado. Omitting the 46 species of the 

 Capsidae, the remaining 275 divided into 7 groups : 



1. 32 indigenous to Florida. 



2. 23 common to Florida and West Indies. 



3. 54 common to Florida, Mexico and Central America. 



4. 48 common to Florida, Gulf States, Mexico and Central America. . 



5. 38 common to Florida and Southern States. 



6. 55 common to Florida and United States, of which 19 are widely dis- 

 tributed. 



7. 6 cosmopolitan species. 



Mr. Barber mapped on the blackboard the distribution of the Chinch Bug 



