THE COLEOPTERA OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. 



BY ClCORcJlv II. HORN. 



Our earliest knowledge of the Coleoptera of the Penin- 

 sula of California was obtained from a collection made 

 by John Xantus de Vesey during 1859 '^""^^ i860, which, 

 after its deposit in the Smithsonian Institution, was divided 

 between Mr. H. Ulke and Dr. J. L. LeConte. The 

 series was said to contain about 500 species, of which 

 Dr. LeConte admits having seen 114. It is highl}' prob- 

 able that Xantus greatly overestimated the species col- 

 lected as the accompan\ing list is less than 700, manv of 

 which are new. 



A few years later a small collection was made by tlie 

 late W. M. Gabb, who, with some associates of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of California, visited parts of the penin- 

 sula. Unfortunately the localities from which this col- 

 lection was obtained were not specified, although many 

 are now ascertained througli the collection under con- 

 sideration. 



No definite localities are known for the Xantus collec- 

 tions and all the species heretofore described are stated to 

 be from Cape St. Lucas. It is now determinable that 

 this material w^as obtained in the region between San Jose 

 del Cabo and La Paz. 



The collection submitted to me b}^ the California Acad- 

 em}^ of Sciences is b}- far the largest aggregate of material 

 from Baja California submitted for scientific study and 

 includes within five per cent, all the species known to 

 have occurred in that region, together with a good num- 

 ber of new forms and some hitherto known only from the 

 adjacent mainland of Mexico. To the expeditions from 

 the Academy in the last Cive 3'ears we are indebted for 

 this increase of our knowledge of tlie coleopterous fauna 



2d Sku., Vol. IV. .\iigust 3, 1894. 



