less closely by other Coleoptera, which like itself are not particular 

 as to the nature of their food, so long as it be other living insects, 

 . and apparently are equally indifferent to the presence of large 



by my father, near Trenton, New Jersey, afterwards found on 

 Coney Island, near New York, and received by me from Kansas 

 and Wisconsin ; not, however, found west of the Rocky Mountains. 

 This species, thus occurring in isolated and distant localities, is 

 probably in process of extinction, and may or may not be older than 



that it is older. Second, there is Dyschirim pallipennis, a amall 

 Carabide, remarkable among other species of the genus by the 

 pale wing covers, usually ornamented with a dark spot. This in- 

 sect is abundant on the Atlantic coast from New York to Virginia, 

 unchanged in the interior parts of the Mississippi valley, repre- 

 sented at Atlantic City, New Jersey, by a larger and quite distinct 



know not,— our descendants may. The Atlantic species ar 



region are without wings. 



Accompanying these are Coleoptera of other families, whic 

 have been less carefully studied, but I will not trespass upon you 

 patience by mentioning more than two. Wedius paUipenm 

 (Staphylinidce) is found on salt marshes near New York, on th 

 Southern sea coast, and in Kans^-Ammodonus fossor, a wing 

 less Tenebrionide, Trenton, seashore near New York, and valley c 

 Mississippi at St. Louis; thus nearly approximating Cicindel 

 h T ;<hi in distribution. 



We can thus obtain by a careful observation of the localities c 

 insects, especially such as affect, seashore or marsh, and thos 

 which being deprived of their favorite surroundings, have show i 

 if I may so express myself, a patriotic clinging to their nativ 

 soil, most valuable indications in regard to the time at which thei 

 unmodified ancestors first appeared upon the earth. For it is ol 

 vious that no tendency to change in different directions by « nr 



