DISTRIBUTION OF THE COLEOPTERA OF KANSAS. 733 
ENTOMOLOGY. 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE COLEOPTERA OF KANSAS. 
WARREN KNAUS. 
The beetle fauna of Kansas is, in many respects, extensive and varied. 
This may seem to be the more remarkable, when we take into consideration the 
fact that the general surface of the State is almost entirely uniform throughout ; 
no mountain ranges that serve to mark the habitat of distinct coleopterous tribes 
and families ; no considerable elevations even, but a continuous undulating plain, 
covered over a great part of the surface by grass only, the forests being confined 
to the margins of the streams over the eastern half of the State, and scarcely ex- 
isting at all over the western half. 
This sameness of surface and vegetation, — the tendency of which is toward 
the uniformity of the beetle fauna, — is however, in almost direct contrast to the 
diversity incident on the geographical situation of the State. The late Dr. J, L. 
Leconte, in his geographical subdivision of the coleopterous fauna of the United 
States, says in effect ; — that the whole region of the United States is divided by 
meridional lines into three, or perhaps four, great zoological districts, distin- 
guished each by numerous peculiar genera and species, which, with but few ex- 
ceptions, do not extend into the contiguous districts. 
The central district, according to Leconte, extends from the prairies west 
of Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas, westward to the Sierra Nevadas. 
Since the beetles of this region have become better known, however, it is, I 
think, generally considered that the Rocky Mountain region and the plains at its 
eastern base constitute a separate division, the coleopterous fauna of which is 
entirely different from that in the central division. 
According to this division Kansas is located practically in three faunal re- 
gions, and her beetle forms are varied accordingly. The eastern portion of the 
State has many representatives from the eastern division of the United States ; 
the central portion has a fauna of its own, and the western portion partakes largely 
of the fauna of the plains. Her fauna is still further increased by the addition, 
along the southern boundary of the State, of a number of forms peculiar to the 
subtropical fauna of the southern States. Contrary, therefore, to an early ex- 
pressed opinion of one of our most noted coleopterists, Kansas is characterized 
by the variety and richness of her beetle families. The total number of species 
and varieties of Kansas coleoptera up to the close of 1883, I have summarized 
as follows : 
