No.l.] SCUDDER ON PALEONTOLOGY OF FLORISSANT. COLORADO. 289 



The examination of tlie immense series of specimens found at Floris- 

 sant* lias not gone far enough to yield data sufficiently definite for gen- 

 eralization of aiiy value, or which might not be altered or even reversed 

 on further study. It may, nevertheless, be interesting to give a running 

 notice of what has been observed in assorting the collection, and to 

 make the single comparison with the Oeningen insect fauna which the 

 number of individuals will furnish. This is indicated by the following 

 table, based on a rough count of the Florissant specimens, but which 

 cannot be far astray : 



Percentage of representation by — 



Hymenoptera 



Diptera 



Coleoptera... 



Hemiptera 



Neuroptera .. 

 Orthoptera . . . 

 Araclinicla — 

 MjTiapoda — 

 Lepidoptera . 



It will be seen that the proj^ortion of specimens of each order is very 

 different in all that are well represented, with the sole exception of the 

 Hemiptera, while the same groups (Orthoptera, Arachnida, Myriapoda, 

 and Lepidoptera) are feebly represented in both. The greatest differ- 

 ence occurs in the Diptera, which are less than 7 per cent, of the whole 

 at Oeningen and about 30 per cent, at Florissant 5 in the Hymenoptera, 

 which have less than 14 per cent, at Oeningen and 40 per cent, at Flo- 

 rissant, due largely to the prodigious number of ants ; while the case is 

 reversed in the Coleoptera, which form nearly one-half the specimens 

 found at Oeningen and only 13 per cent, at Florissant. We possess no 

 count of the specimens found at Eadoboj, in Croatia, which is regrettable, 

 since the fauna of Florissant appears to agree much better with it than 

 with any other, at least if one may judge from the comparatively minor 

 part played by the Coleoptera and the great number of ants ; these lat- 

 ter nuuiber 57 species in Eadoboj, and one of them has furnished 500 

 specimens. Still the comparison cannot be carried very closely into 

 other departments ; for instance, only one rhynchophorous Coleopteron 

 has been reported from Eadoboj, while they are very numerous and rich 

 in species at Florissant, and local causes must have had much to do 

 with the launa of each of these localities. It is hardly worth while to 

 institute any inquiries into the proportion of the groups represented at 

 Florissant and in amber, since the nature of the entombment is entirely 

 different. 



Let us pass, then, to a rapid sketch of the Florissant insect fauna, 



* Among these are included about 1,000 8x>eciniens submitted by tbe Princeton csiie- 

 dition. 



19 G B 



