The Coleoptera of the Lower Rio 



Grande Valley. 



i. 



By H. F. WTCKHAM. 



The material on which the following report is based, was 

 for the most part, collected by the writer on a trip to Browns- 

 ville, Texas, in the year 1895. Owing probably to the com- 

 parative inaccessibility of the region, which lies far away from 

 all ordinary routes of travel, and to a lack of knowledge of 

 the means by which it might be reached, practically no col- 

 lections of Coleoptera had, until recently, been received from 

 this part of the country and the authenticity even of the few 

 records in our possession was often questioned. 



A short time previous to th£ writer's initial move in this 

 direction, the Entomological Division of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture stationed as Field Agent at Brownsville, Prof. 

 C. H. Tyler Townsend, who was engaged in the study of the 

 cotton weevil {Anthonomtis grandis\, and who also devoted 

 much time to making a general collection of the insects found 

 in this vicinity. Later, he was joined for a few days by Mr. 

 E. A. Schwarz, who was sent by the same bureau on a like 

 mission. To these gentlemen, naturalists are indebted for our 

 first real knowledge of the insect fauna of the lower Rio 

 Grande valley. Prof. Townsend remained at Brownsville 

 throughout the writer's stay, and rendered a great deal of 

 kind aid in the way of pointing out good localities with which 

 he had become familiar in past experience. His mission was 

 not terminated until some months later. 



Two routes are open to the intending visitor; one by water, 

 96 



