236 entomological news. [December, 



grasp them in a hurry if, as usual, the shrub on which the insect 

 rests is a thorny one. 



Beating thickets in low-lying districts was not productive of 

 many good things ; however, I took one or two Stenosphenus 

 debilis in this way. So few Tenebrionidse were secured (by the 

 usual method of rolling logs and ties in dry spots) that I refrain 

 from any remarks on them, more particularly since those taken 

 were not characteristic. So much collecting has been done in 

 this vicinity by many a good entomologist that the fauna is com- 

 paratively well known and no lack of records exist. 



A much less known region lies to the westward of Yuma, where 

 the Southern Pacific Railroad crosses the desert proper and 

 traverses for a long distance the dried-up bed of a salt lake or 

 ancient sea. In some places this now lies not less than three hun- 

 dred and sixty feet below the level of the waters of the Pacific. 

 Near the northern rim of this great basin lies the station of Indio, 

 fifty feet below sea level and surrounded by a sandy plain which 

 rises into mountains at a distance of but a few miles. The sand 

 forms curious little hillocks, apparently through being blown up 

 against the stems of the bushes by the wind. As these bushes 

 grow higher they are again partially whelmed by the sand and a 

 repetition of this process finally results in the formation of a 

 considerable dune. 



Since but a single day was spent here, only a cursory glance 

 could be given the fauna. I saw specimens of Gyascutus plani- 

 costa flying in the sun about the bushes, and got a large weevil, 

 near C/eonus, about the roots of weeds near the railroad tracks. 

 This weevil was new then, but has since been described by 

 Captain Casey as Dinocleus wickhamii. My spoils from this 

 vicinity also include Apristus laticollis, Nocibiotes gracilis and an 

 Enpagoderes which seems to be varius. Among the Tene- 

 brionidae I got some Eurymetopon rufipes and Tribolhim ferrji- 

 gineum chiefly from the floor of a pump-house, built over a well. 

 The owner slept in the shelter and complained that the Eury- 

 metopon bit him at night His suspicions may. however, have 

 been unjust. Eleodes armata was taken sparingly ; one or two 

 Cerenopus concolor and Cryptoglossa verrucosa were captured 

 under logs in the palm grove lying some six miles away at the 

 foot of the hills. A single Hymenortis grandicollis is also num- 

 bered among my victims. 



