2 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Previous to the time of Le Conte our knowledge of the 

 Coleoptera of the Pacific Coast was due entirely to the 

 writings of Eschscholtz (1829) and Mannerheim (1843- 

 1853). Both of these authors confined their attention to 

 the fauna of the northern coast region more especially 

 of Alaska and, as is remarked by Le Conte, at the close 

 of Mannerheim's labors, the fauna of that region was 

 more completely developed than that of any other part 

 of the continent. 



In 1859 Le Conte published a list of 147 species col- 

 lected by Xantus at Fort Tejon. The number is insig- 

 nificant, but the list is interesting in the present 

 connection, since Fort Tejon lies at the southern end of 

 the San Joaquin Valley, on the northern slope of the 

 mountains which separate the valley from Southern Cal- 

 ifornia. Of the 147 species named, 120 are now known 

 to occur south of the mountains. 



From 1859 to 1876 several papers of a faunal nature 

 were contributed by Le Conte, Horn, and Ulke, none of 

 which, however, are so important as to require special 

 mention. In these, as in the two first named, the refer- 

 ences to California!! species are for the most part con- 

 tained in lists covering a much wider territory. Since 

 1876 only a few local lists have appeared, the most 

 important being that contained in the report of the Death 

 Valley Expedition;* the Tenebrionidae, Cicindelidse, 

 Histeridse, and Coccinellidse observed in San Diego 

 County by Dr. F. E. Blaisdellf and two lists presented 

 by the author, one of a collection made in the San 

 Bernardino Mts.,J and the other of the Coleoptera 

 known from the Southern California islands. 



* North American Fauna, No. 7, 1893. U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 tZoe, Vol. Ill, 1892 ; Entomological News, Vol. Ill, 1892. 

 I Entomological News, Vol. V, 1894. 

 Canadian Entomologist, 1897. 



