THE COLEOPTERA OF OLD CALABAR. 468 
it affords an example of the American family (Edionifchis. The Erotylidse present some 
resemblances between the two countries, as Dacne grand is to Da cue heros, \ e. 
The general result of the whole undoubtedly is, that while by far the greater proportion 
of the species of Old Calabar have the West-African fades, a small but still perceptible 
proportion has the South- American facies. 
The natural inference from these relations is, that at some period the two continent s must 
have been united or contiguous ; but this is not a necessary sequence. For example, no one 
will maintain that the Kentucky caves have ever been united or contiguous to the Cam i- 
olan caves; and yet the relationship and resemblance of the eyeless Coleoptna found in 
these two localities are greater than in any two species which can be contrasted from Old 
Calabar and South America. I am willing to assume for the present that Europe and N ort 1 1 
America have been at some period united, and that the affinity between Anophthalmia 
Bilvmehii and A. Tellkampfii maybe explained, on Mr. Darwin's theory, by assuming 
them to be the product of the same or of allied Trechi which have wandered into the eaves, 
and that the like conditions have impressed a like form on their offspring. This latter 
assumption is of course not Mr. Darwin's ; for he repudiates the idea of physical condit ions 
making much, if any, impress upon life. I confess I am still a believer in that exploded 
heresy. I can see no other way of explaining the existence of these allied blind insects 
in caves so widely separated; and if it applies to the caves, it may equally apply to any 
district with well-marked physical conditions. May not, for instance, a North- American 
Prionus, the same as, or closely allied to, a European species, have wandered southwards 
to the Brazil districts and produced a Folyoza, while its European fellow wandered into 
Old Calabar and produced a Doiycera? that is, supposing the physical condition of 
Brazil and Calabar to be the same, and that they have some resemblance in climate, 
moisture, &c., as is, I believe, the case. This is indicated, inter alia, by the scarcity of 
epigeal Tenebrionidae in both. The distribution of that class of insects is curious ; 
Eacordaire thus states it : — " In the old continent, the whole of Africa, the borders of 
the Mediterranean, and the regions in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea constitute 
three great centres in which they abound. The East Indies and Australia only possess 
a small number. In South America, the whole of Patagonia, the Argentine Republic, 
Chili, Bolivia, and Peru are the only regions of this vast continent where; they are 
greatly multiplied. In North America, they begin to appear in the plains to the east 
of the Rocky Mountains; and their number goes on increasing in proportion as they 
advance to the west. California and the still imperfectly explored regions of New 
Mexico seem to be, in that continent, the special country of these insects. But the most 
important fact to mention is, that, except a few Opatri, not one of these American forms 
enters into the genera peculiar to the old continent, and vice versa. More than that, 
North America and South America do not appear, so far as is yet known, to possess a 
**ngle genus in common. The non-epigeal Tenebrionidae are distributed according to 
other laws. They are found everywhere, but more than anywhere else in the inter- 
tropical regions of South America." So far as regards epigeal species, this is in ac- 
cordance with what might be expected. Being apterous, their distribution must be 
less extensive and more denned. A barrier, such as a great river or an arm of the sea, 
