C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND — BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MEXICO, ETC. 
'35 
VEKA CRUZ AND PUEBLA. — From February to July, 1896, more 
extensive trips were made in southern Mexico, the newly visited districts 
being as follows: From Vera Cruz city up the coast by steamer to 
Nautla; up the Rio Nautla by canoe about 12 miles to San Rafael (or 
Jicaltepec), where a stay of three months in all was made and large col- 
lections of insects secured, throwing much light on the affinities of that 
fauna; from San Rafael on horseback to Perote, about 95 miles, by way 
of Martinez, Tlapacoyan, Dos Caminos, and Tezuitlan; and later horse- 
back from San Rafael by a route some 15 miles shorter, by way of Dos 
Caminos and Jalacingo to Perote, cutting through a dense tropical forest 
in the mountains between Dos Caminos and Jalacingo. Tezuitlan and 
Perote are in the State of Puebla, the other places being in Vera Cruz. 
Perote town is about 9000 feet elevation. 
The Lower Rio Nautla. — Insects in General . — The writer has in 
process of publication an extended paper on the diptera of the lower Rio 
Nautla region, in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History (London). 
Section I of this paper, in which some general statements are made re- 
garding this fauna, has already appeared. Section II has been sent in, and 
brings the list of identified species up to 44. Large collections of insec is 
were made at San Rafael, from the first of March up to the 20th of July 
(not including the seven weeks from ‘the middle of April to the first part 
of June), as follows: Coleoptera, about 60.0 species; lepidoptera, over 
800 specimens; hemiptera, about 300 species; hymenoptera (except ants, 
bees, and mutillids), 750 specimens; ants, 25 colonies; bees and mutil- 
lids, about 300 specimens (about 50 of which were mutillids); orthoptera, 
450 specimens; diptera, over 1100 specimens; attid spiders, about 1500 
specimens; myriopods, 125 specimens; phalangiids, about 50 specimens. 
Outside of hexapods, no collections were made, except a small lot of 27 
reptiles; a few terrestrial mollusca; and 35 species of plants, on the flow- 
ers of which the bees were taken. 
Outside of the bees, diptera, mollusca and plants, the collections have not 
been worked up yet, but some general points have been noted in a few 
cases. While collecting the coleoptera and hemiptera, especially the for- 
mer, a considerable number of familiar forms were recognized which had 
been previously taken by the writer in the lower Rio Grande region, 
near Brownsville, Texas. These species, however, were chiefly what repre- 
sent the semitropical (in part Neotropical) element in these orders in the 
lower Rio Grande fauna, and are to be found in the palmetto hammocks 
a few miles down the river from Brownsville. Among the smaller hetero- 
cerous lepidoptera, many forms were recognized that had been taken at 
light in Brownsville. Many of the smaller hemiptera, Mr. Uhler writes, 
are species which occur commonly in Texas, New Mexico, and even in 
Colorado. The Orthoptera show about a dozen forms new to collections, 
