IV. pp 



64 General Notes. [January, 



nized only by study of a whole family from all parts of the globe. 

 Dr. Geo.H. Horn, whose excellent work on the Silphidae was 

 noticed not long since in these columns (p. 128), has just published 

 in the Transactions of the American Entomological Society (vol. 

 pp. 91-196, plates 111-x), an elaborate paper "On the genera 

 ~arabidae with special reference to the fauna of Boreal America." 

 This is the first paper covering the general classification of this 

 large family which has appeared since the publication of Lacor- 

 daire's first volume of his " Genera des Coleopteres " though a 

 number of important papers by LeConte, Schanm and Chaudoir 

 have contributed to our knowledge of the subject. Dr. Horn 

 begins with a discussion of the characters of the Adephagous 

 series of Coleoptera and divides them into seven families, the 

 formation of the metasternum being of primary importance. The 

 Haliplidae, Amphizoidae and Pelobiidse are considered as families 

 equivalent to the long established ones, viz : Cicindelidae, Cara- 

 bidae, Dytiscidae and Gyrinidae. The Pseudomorphidae, formerly 

 looked upon as a distinct family, are made to constitute one of the 

 three sub- families (Pseudomorphinae) of Carabidae, the two others 

 being the Carabinae and Harpalinae, the bulk of the tribes and 

 genera being embraced in the Harpalinae. Tables and full ex- 

 positions of the characters of the tribes of the whole family are 

 then given, accompanied by tables of the genera occurring in our 

 fauna. We cannot, in our limited space, treat of this important 

 paper in detail; but if the student will compare the lucid and in- 

 genious arrangement of the sub-family Harpalinae, for instance, as 

 given by Dr. Horn, with the former chaotic arrangements, he will 

 be able to form an idea, not only of the immense amount of labor 

 expended, but also of the excellency of the work. It is, perhaps, 

 the most important of the several revisions the author has of late 

 years given us— all of them so fresh, thorough and original, that 

 it is a veritable pleasure to work by them.— C. V. R. 



The Butterfly Trees of Monterey Again. — We gave in 

 the July number of this magazine an abstract from a letter 

 of Miss Jennie R. Bush, of San Jose, Cal., in reference to the so- 

 called butterfly trees, near Monterey, of that State. From speci- 

 mens sent some time ago by Miss Bush, we find that the butterfly 

 in question is the cosmopolitan Danais archippus, which, as is 

 well known, lias , K similar habit of congregating in immense num- 

 bers on trees in the Atlantic States, and does this during winter 

 in the extreme Southeast (vide American fiiit.wwlo<rist, Vol. Hi.p- 

 102). It was on the 27th of Februarv that Mis Bush observed 

 the phenomenon above related. The inference to be drawn from 

 the interesting facts is, that the species finds on the Pacific slope, 

 about the latitude 36 30', a climate congenial to its hibernation, 

 whereas on the Atlantic side, it has to migrate southward so far 

 as latitude 30 . 



