FOSSIL BEETLES FROM VERO, FLORIDA 
By H. F. WICKHAM.* 
In the interesting locality at Vero, Florida, now noted for the 
finds of human remains in association with those of Pleistocene 
mammals, several rather good specimens of insect fragments were 
found. All of the Coleopterous relics, most of them elytra, have 
been turned over to me by Dr. Sellards, for . study, and form the 
basis of the following notes. 
A specific account of the locality its geological history, strat¬ 
ification and fossils, will be found in an article by Dr. Sellards in. 
the Eighth Annual Report of the Florida State Geological Sur¬ 
vey, 1916, pp. 121-160. For the purpose of the present notes, it 
may be sufficient to say. that the insects were found in both of the 
strata yielding human bones and implements, and in association 
with remains of the Columbian elephant, the American mastodon 
and other extinct mammals. The Coleoptera seem worth record¬ 
ing, partly because they throw some light on the probable climatic 
and ecological conditions at the time of their deposit, and partly 
because we may gather from them some ideas as to the relative 
rapidity of specific or subspecific change. 
Two conclusions seem to be warranted after a study of the 
beetle fragments. The first is that there is nothing to indicate any 
particular difference in climatic conditions in Florida then and 
now, since the assemblage of genera is the same as one might ex¬ 
pect to find in a stream valley there today. The nearest relatives 
of the species are still characteristic members of the Floridian 
fauna and many of them are apparently identical. Second, it 
seems evident that there has been some change in minor charac¬ 
ters of sculpture, since it is not possible to match certain of the fos¬ 
sils exactly with modern forms. In view of the fact that other 
*This paper on Fossil Beetles and the one which precedes relating to the 
literature on the locality at Vero were published in the May issue of the 
American Journal of Science, 1919. 
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