October— December 1S84/ 



PS2THE. 



219 



fulcrum to the roof of the pharynx, so 

 as I1V their contraction to raise the roof, 

 to enlarge the cavitv, and to turn it into 

 a forcing pump. Wiien tlie pharynx 

 is not so distended its roof is arched up- 

 wards and its himen on cross-section 

 merely a trans\crse slit. Above it — 

 within tiie hollow of the arch — is a 

 system of radiating muscles which in- 

 crease the curvature of the pharynx- 

 roof and so close it unless when 

 antagonised by the descending muscles. 

 8. Ivxcept \)\ the muscles, and at its 



inferior margin, the fulcriun has no or- 

 ganic connection with the pharynx. As 

 the fulcrum transverses the length of the 

 head, free externalh' of the outer wall of 

 the head, and free internally of the pro- 

 boscis which pierces it though separated 

 from it, and as it is enclosed by muscles 

 on lioth sides, it must be endoskeletal 

 ill its nature, /. c, an ingrowth from the 

 exoskeleton, like the endophragms of 

 the thorax or the endocranium of the 

 head of other insects. 

 12 Dec. 1SS4. 



NOTES ON SOME COLEOPTERA TAKEN IN SOUTH LOUISIANA. 



BY CHARLE.S IlEXRV TVI.ER TOWNSENn, t 0.\ST,\NTIXE . MICH. 



The whole of Louisiana has been 

 includc<l by Leconte in the southern 

 province of his great Atlantic district.' 

 It would seem however, upon fin-ther 

 consideration of the fauna, that the 

 southern strip parallel with the coast 

 should be connected with his "'subtrop- 

 ical province, including the seacoast of 

 Texas" (see map by Leconte) ; which, 

 moreover, as he says, "belongs more 

 properly to the eastern province of the 

 tropical zoological district of Mexico. "- 

 It was in what might he called the sub- 

 tropical province of the seacoast of 

 Louisiana (being a continuation of the 

 coast strip embraced in the eastern prov- 

 ince of Mexico) tiiat these notes were 



1 Leconte, J : L. The ccileoptera of Kansas and east- 

 ern New Mexico; with map showing the entomological 

 provinces of North America. Wash.. Smithsonian insti- 

 tution, 1S59, p. iv. 



2 Loc. cit., p. iii-iv. 



c<illected. and the observations here 

 given made. 



It will be borne in mind that at the 

 time of my visit, 29 March to 21 June 

 1SS4, a large tract of country near Bay- 

 ou la Fourche was overflowed from the 

 great crcyasse of March the same year. 

 For the identification of most of the 

 species to which these notes refer, I am 

 intlehted to the kintlness of Dr. G : H : 

 Horn. 



Tiie ciciitdc/idac seemed to be near- 

 h' alisent or of local occurrence in south- 

 ern Louisiana, and not to frequent the 

 lowlands of that part of the state. I 

 saw only two specimens of this family 

 (one larva of Tctracha Carolina, and 

 one Ciciudela rcpaitda) in the latitud'e 

 of New Orleans. Afterwards I saw 

 C. tortiinsa with C. repanda at the 

 mouth of Red River. Though I visit- 



