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ART. II. — Catalogue of Goleoptera of the Regions adjacent to the Boundary Line between 



the United States and Mexico. 



>^ 



By John L. Le Conte, M. D. 



Since the time when the entomological productions of Kansas were made known to 

 science by Thomas Say, no expedition under the direction of government has so largely 

 contributed to a correct knowledge of the insect fauna of Western North America as 

 the United States and Mexican Boundery Survey. * 



Not only have large numbers of new genera and species been added to science, but 

 the limits of many previously known species have been ascertained, and new points 

 fixed for the final solution of the intricate problems of geographical distribution. 



Many of the new species added to our fauna vie with the most splendid productions 

 of the tropics, while others by their curious forms are in strong contrast with the 

 usually dull and ordinary appearance of the Coleoptera of the United States. 



As the collections were made in a continuous belt of country extending from the 

 Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, they serve well to illustrate the remarkable 

 changes in fauna, dependent on longitude : an element, on this continent, of much 

 greater importance than latitude in determining the distribution of organized beings. 



*This catalogue is the preliminary portion of a report on the Coleopterous insects collected by the U. S. 

 and Mexican Boundary Commission, which was prepared at the request of the Commissioner ; after its pre- 

 paration, involving a labor of fifteen months, was completed, information was given me that its publication had 

 not been provided for, and recently the MS. has been returned to me, with a letter from the Hon. Secretary 

 of the Interior, in which occurs the following passage : " Its publication in the second vol. of the Report of 

 Major Emory is inadmissible from the fact that Major Emory appears not to have contemplated it in his corres- 

 pondence with this Department, previous to his turning over the work, and his departure for the West. In his 

 letter of October 7th, 1857, he says, 'The second vol. is composed of Zoology and Botany, Prof. Baird writes 

 the Zoology, and Dr. Engelmann writes the section on Botany relating to Cactaceae, Dr. Torrey writes the 

 remainder of the Botany." 



The points worthy of the attention of the scientific student here presented are two-fold : 1st, that the Com- 

 missioner should not have contemplated in his correspondence with the Department the publication of material 

 that he had already requested to have prepared for the Report: 2nd, the exclusion by the Commissioner of 

 Entomology from Zoology, by the statement that " Prof. Baird writes the Zoology," when the facts were that 

 only the Vertebrata were undertaken by my learned scientific friend. 



I do not desire to be understood as attaching blame to any person in this matter, but make this statement for 

 the purpose of accounting for my own apparent idleness in science for a period. 



I also take occasion here to return my grateful acknowledgements to the Hon. J. Thompson, Secretary of 

 of the Interior, for the use of the lithographic plate prepared to illustrate the Report. 



[From Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. IV. No. 1. Nov., 1858.] 



