FOSSIL COLEOPTERA FROM THE WILSON RANCH 



NEAR FLORISSANT, COLORADO librai 



H. F. WICKHAM 



The present report gives the results of a study of the collec- 

 tions made by myself at Florissant, during the summer of 1912. 

 It is a part of a series of papers intended to make known the 

 Coleopterous life of that region during the ]\Iiocene times and, 

 including those characterized in a memoir now printing by the 

 United States National INIuseum, brings up the number of beetles 

 described from these shales to 377 species. Even now, the subject 

 is bj^ no means exhausted since the material on hand, consisting 

 largely of the unworked portions of the Scudder collections, in- 

 cludes about a thousand unidentified specimens, which will cer- 

 tainly furnish at least 200 novelties, possibly even more. 



The old lake at Florissant covered a good deal of ground. It 

 is known to have been over nine miles long and about two miles 

 across, with irregular outlines. The shales occur in layers of 

 varying depth, interspersed with deposits of other character, the 

 whole, in places, reaching a thickness of about forty or fifty feet. 

 Presumably this deposition must have extended over a consider- 

 able period of time and it is reasonable to suppose that dust 

 showers and mud flows took place at different seasons so we are 

 not surprised to find that collections made at the various points 

 where exposures occur show some tendenc}' to be unlike in detail. 

 The early explorations were made with no attempt to indicate 

 the exact points from which specimens were taken and it was 

 largely for the sake of remedying this neglect that Professor 

 Cockerell undertook to number each station at which his parties 

 worked — the idea being that if the beds were laid down at 

 periods widely differing in geological time the faunae of the 

 various stations would yield some evidence to that effect. The 

 beetles that he has sent me for studj'^ seem to show that the dif- 

 ferences are not greater than we might expect in collections 

 made at varying seasons or under diverse shore environments. 

 As indicating what may be found in a single limited area, I sub- 



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NEW Yt 

 BOTANIC 



