68 Psyche [June 



the first corresponding modifications. In the most diverse famihes, 

 accustomed to widely varying nourishment, single species have 

 become habituated, first partially, then exclusively to a floral diet, 

 and subsequently structural changes have been developed to in- 

 sure greater success in the search after food. The length of time 

 which has elapsed since the first tendency in a family toward 

 anthophily is indicated by the number of species which resort to 

 flowers. Where a whole family is dependent on a floral diet the 

 epoch was more remote, but where there are only a few isolated 

 species the habit has been acquired more recently.^ 



During the past ten years Mr. C. A.. Frost and the writer have 

 devoted much attention to the anthophilous Coleoptera of New 

 England. Mr. Frost has worked chiefly at Framingham, and the 

 neighboring tow^ns of Sherborn and Hopkinton, Mass.; while the 

 writer has collected wholly at Waldoboro, Me. As a result 9 

 larger number of species has been taken than would have been 

 obtained by a single observer working in one locality. In the 

 appended list there are enumerated for New England 232 antho- 

 philous species belonging to 127 genera and 29 families, or 47 

 species more than Knuth records for all North America. Of this 

 number 185 species were collected in Massachusetts, and 102 in 

 Maine, 57 species being common to both states, while two species 

 are credited to New Hampshire only. The number of genera in 

 Massachusetts is 100, and in Maine 73, with 46 genera common to 

 both states. It is clear that all the families of marked significance 

 in flower pollination in this section have been recorded, for 20 

 families, including 222 species, are common to both states, while 

 each of the nine families listed from one state is represented only by 

 a single species, or in one instance by two. Although further 

 observations in other localities would add many species and genera 

 to the list, there can be no doubt that the 46 genera common to 

 both states cover most of the forms beneficial to flowers in northern 

 New England. Where a large number of species in a genus, as 

 in Lebia, Typocerus, Leptura, Strangalia, Telephorus, Hoplia, 

 Trichius, Mordella, Mordellistena, and many others are known to 

 resort to flowers, it is generally safe to conclude that the entire 

 genus is pnthophilous; but when a species has been taken only once 



' Miiller, Hermann, "Fertilization of Flowers," p. 36. 



