SUPPLBIVLKNT TO PSYCHE,— I. 



INSECT FAUNA OF THE GIANT CACTUS OF ARIZONA: 

 LETTERS FROM THE SOUTHWEST.* 



BY H. G. HUBBARD. 



Tucson, Ar., Dec. 24, 1896. 



•' It is possible witli some tiouble to 

 reacli tlie nearest of tlie Giant Cacti 

 ( Cereus giganteiis) on the hills about 

 3 miles to the south of here. In gen- 

 eral there is absolutely nothing to be 

 found on or about these great green 

 posts which rise out of the hard ground 

 like a stone monument in a grave yard, 

 but on one occasion I found a cavity 

 which was fiiirly alive with a rather 

 large grey-colored Hemipteron {Nar- 

 nia femorata Stal) evidently a plant- 

 feeding species. The same cavity con- 

 tained fresh'seeds of the " Palo verde " 

 {Parkinsonia), apparently carried in 

 by a mouse or rat, and among these 

 there were specimens of Briichus 

 amicus. I had also the luck to find 

 one of the great cacti prostrate and 

 entirely disintegrated and reduced to 

 dust by the ants and termites. Under 

 the debris of this I found quite a col- 

 lection of insects : several pairs of the 



* These letters were addressed to the undersigned and 

 are now, after the death of the lamented .lutlior, published 

 without alterations, except that a number of determmatious 

 wherever these were not furnished by Mr. Hubbard, have 

 been inserted. These determinations were made by the 

 specialists attached to the U. S. National Museum. Some 

 of the new species of Coleoptera are described in the Ap- 

 pendix. — E. A . Sclr.varz. 



large Monilema of this region (yl/. 

 giganteum Lee.) , and a numerous 

 colony of Lampyrid larvae f and their 

 cast skins, and also the larva of a Col- 

 lops. There are also numerous frag- 

 ments of Tenebrionidae (Asida, Nyc- 

 tobates, Eleodes etc.)and Lamellicornia 

 (Diplotaxis, Listrochelus, Euphoria 

 etc.) under this debris but none of these 

 can be found alive at this season. 



Tucson Ar., Dec. 26, 1S96. 



" Yesterday being Christmas I made 

 an expedition to the nearest hill about 

 2 miles south of here, and the first giant 

 cactus which I reached proved to be a 

 veritable bonanza. It was a grizzled 

 old trunk some 15 feet in height, and as 

 it stood close to a wood chopper's road 

 it had fortunately been chopped by 

 somebody's axe and had on one side a 

 cavity about as large as my hat. This 

 cavity was partly filled with black rot- 

 ten material, and I found at the first 

 examination that this debris was liter- 

 ally swarming with insects. The rot- 

 ting was constantly advanced by great 

 numbers of huge dipterous maggots 

 {Volucel/a avida O. S.), aided by 



tThe imago subsequ 

 (Moidalh Horn. 



itly bred, proved to be Lye 



