may, 1803.] INSECTS OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 237 



spasta n. sp., and a remarkable new genus of Seolytidae. Perhaps the 

 chief interest attaching to the collection is that it permits us to make 

 some comparison between the beetles of the valleys and intervening 

 mountain chains within the region explored. If we omi t those collected 

 in San Bernardino County, which have no exact localities, and also the 

 very few from Coso and Owens Valleys, the following deduction may 

 be made : In Death Valley and Panamint Valley 140 species were found 

 (including 23 species common to both valleys), while in Panamint Moun- 

 tains and Argus Mountains 160 species were found (including 16 species 

 common to both ranges). Comparing the faunas of the valleys and 

 mountains, it will be noted that they have only 36 species in common. 

 This difference is due principally to the marked preponderance of the 

 Staphylinidae in the mountain fauna, the complete absence of the family 

 Meloidaa and the marked prevalence of Elateridse and ChrysomelidaB 

 in the mountain regions. Continued collecting later in the season might 

 have largely changed this condition of things, however, and hence too 

 much importance should not be attached to the deduction. The 

 Carabidae are the best represented in the collection, 22 genera with 44 

 species having been collected. The genera are all of wide distribution, 

 and only a few species, e. g., Omophron dentatum, Calosoma prominens, 

 Tetragonoderus pallidus, and Pinaeodera punctigera, are peculiar to the 

 lower Sonoran region and have all been found in the valleys. The 

 single representative (Bradycellus cognatus) of the circumpolar fauna 

 belongs to this family. In most other families the material collected is 

 too small or not characteristic enough to warrant any generalization. 



In the Lepidoptera, the Rhopalocera have been determined by com- 

 parison with the national collection or by reference to W. H. Edwards, 

 of Coalburgh, W. Va. The majority of the species are characteris- 

 tic of the southwestern United States, but I have not had time 

 to fully analyze the distribution of the species. The representatives 

 in most of the other families of the Lepidoptera, outside of the Noc- 

 tuidse and Geometridae, are so very few as not to justify consider- 

 ation. In the Uoctuidse, which are better represented, most of the 

 species have been reported before, but there are a certain number 

 of new species, and Prof. J. B. Smith, of ISTew Brunswick, 1ST. J., to 

 whom these have been referred, finds that they represent even three 

 new genera. In the Geometridse there are six species which can 

 not be determined either generically or specifically, and which are 

 not included in the list. These undescribed forms have been, referred 

 to Dr. George D. Hulst, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who will, I hope, in due 

 time characterize them. 



Among the Hymenoptera the Aculeate species comprise genera not 

 restricted to California and include several species which are evidently 

 new. In the parasitic Hymenoptera very little can be said about the 

 collection. The species are most of them new, but this same statement 

 would have to be made of almost any collection of the parasitic forms 



