1897.] Entomology. 349 
p- 48, 1878), where the number is given as 28. My material was ma- 
cerated and then examined with the microscope, and the count verified 
repeatedly on different specimens. 
The colors of the Carolina fishes are the same as those of Illinois 
examples. The markings which at once catch the eye are a dusky bar 
below the eye and eleven narrow vertical bars on the side, two of those 
immediately behind the gill opening being enlarged to form a dusky 
spot. Three dusky dots at the bases of the caudal rays appear to be a 
constant character of young fishes.—H. Garman, Lexington, Ky. 
The Human Tail.—According to Prof. W. Waldeyer,’ who has 
recently gone over the subject, a tail is to be defined asa portion of the 
body that contains the caudal, i. e., post-sacral, vertebra and sundry 
other derivatives of caudal segments, all surrounded by integument. 
With reference to man, Virchow, in 1880, distinguished between tails 
with vertebr and soft tails—a distinction generally recognized. As 
is well known the human embryo always shows evidence of a true 
vertebrated tail that may even persist after birth, yet in no case is it 
certain that more vertebral elements are present than are to be found 
in the normal coccyx. What occurs in tailed human subjects is the 
soft tail of Virchow, which corresponds to the distal non-vertebrated 
portion of the tail in other animals. In some cases this may be partly 
bony, but there is no increase in the number of caudal vertebre. 
ENTOMOLOGY: 
The Fauna of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.—Mr. H. F 
Wickham publishes’ an interesting paper on The Coleoptera of the 
Lower Rio Grande Valley, in which he discusses the faunal relations 
of the region as follows: 
Regarding the true affinities of the Coleopterous fauna and the claim 
of the region to be considered tropical in its nature, opinions are more 
or less divided. Mr. Schwarz has stated that “no one can doubt the 
existence of a semi-tropical insect fauna along the north bank of the 
lower Rio Grande.” Prof. Townsend classes the Brownsville fauna as 
Lower Sonoran, with a considerable touch of Austroriparian and about 
twenty-five per cent. tropical. Dr. Merriam has included it in his 
5S. B. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., 1896, 775-84. J.R. M. S., 1896, p. 601. 
1 Edited by Clarence M. Weed, New Hampshire College, Durham, NB. 
? Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist., Univ. Iowa, IV, 96-115. 
