Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 
39 
which was said to be quite high for September, added to which was 
the oppressiveness found in depressions below sea level. The 
summer heat has proved too great for some of the earlier settlers, 
and the use of Mexican and negro labor seems to be largely re¬ 
sponsible for the agricultural success of the region. 
We had one particular reason for visiting the Imperial Valley 
and spending more time in the Colorado Desert—to search for a 
very rare genus of grasshoppers previously known only from two 
specimens. Search in past years in the Colorado Desert, and in 
the Imperial Valley itself, so far had failed to reveal this remarkable 
insect. Kane Spring is a little desert water-hole passed after leaving 
the settled region, and some six miles northwest of this landmark 
we examined a group of absolutely bare yellow sandhills surrounded 
by silt and sand flats, with some areas of gravel surface covering. 
Here to our joy we took a most satisfactory series of the long- 
sought grasshopper, and were able to make most interesting and 
novel observations on its habits and actions. 
For forty miles along the west side of the Salton Sea there is no 
trace of human habitations, but a splendid concrete road connects 
the Imperial Valley with the Los Angeles territory, and makes poss¬ 
ible in relative comfort the study of this very desolate country. The 
Salton Sea stretches off to the east in the glory of its spectral blue— 
a desert lake which it is hard to convince oneself is not a mirage. The 
influence of this body of water, which has appreciably contracted in 
the past ten years, produces a most pleasing cool breeze, the loss of 
which is manifest very shortly after leaving the “Sea” behind. A 
short trip was made into one of the canyons of the foothills of the 
San Bernardino Range near Indio, where the native desert fan palm 
(. Neowashingtonia) grows. This palm is the host plant of the 
gigantic bostrychid boring beetle Dinapate wrighti , to the attacks 
of which the splendid tree eventually succumbs, although the 
insect itself is very difficult to locate and secure. The original 
specimens of Dinapate are treasured possessions of the collections 
at the Academy, and the genus and species were first described by 
the late Dr. George H. Horn, long a distinguished officer and 
member of the institution. 
Bidding California good-bye, a night train took us from Indio 
to Gila, Arizona. The sun came up in a pink glory, the desert 
mountains going from pink to purplish, then into their day colors 
