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Psyche 4:219-222, 1883.

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October-December iSQ.] $'sK-HE. 21 &
fulcrum to the roof of the pharynx, so
as by their contraction to raise the roof, to enlarge the cavity, and to turn it into a forcing pump. When the pharynx
is not so distended its roof is arched up- wards and its lumen on cross-section
merely a transverse slit. Above it-
within the hollow7 of the arch-is a
system of radiating muscles which in-
crease the curvture of the pharynx-
roof and so close it unless when
antagonised by the descending muscles.
8. Except by the muscles, and at its
inferior margin, the fulcrum has no or-
ganic connection with the pharynx. As
the fulcrum transverses the length of the head, free externally of the outer wall of the head, and free internally of the pro- boscis which pierces it though separated from it, and as it is enclosed by muscles on both sides, it must be endoskeletal
in its nature, i. e., an ingrowth from the exoskeJeton, like the endophragms of
the thorax or the endocranium of the
head of other insects.
12 Dec. 1884.
NOTES ON SOME COLEOPTERA TAKEN IN SOUTH LOUISIANA. BY CHARLES HENRY TYLER TOWNSEND, CONSTANTINE, MICH. The whole of Louisiana has been
included by Leconte in the southern
province of his great Atlantic district.l It would seem however, upon further
consideration of the fauna, that the
southern strip parallel with the coast
should be connected with his "subtrop-
ical province, including the seacoast of Texas" (see map bv Leconte) ; which.
moreover, as he says, "belongs more
propeily to the eastern province of the
tropical zoological district of Mexic~."~ It was in what might be called the sub-
tropical province of the seacoast of
Louisiana (being a continuation of the
coast strip embraced in the eastern prov- ince of Mexico) that these notes were
1 LECONTE, J: L. The coleoptera of Kansas and east- ern New Mexico; with map showing the entomological provinces of North America. Wash., Smithsonian insti- tution, 1859, p. iv.
^ LOC. cit., p. iii-iv.
collectecl, and the observations here
given made.
It will be borne in mind that at the
time of my visit, 29 March to 21 June
1884, a large tract of country near Bay- on la Foul-die was overflowed from the
great crevasse of March the same year.
Far the identification of most of the
species to which these notes refer, I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. G : H :
Horn.
The cicindelidae seemed to be near-
ly absent or of local occurrence in south- ern Louisiana, and not to frequent the
low lands of that part of the state. I
saw only two specimens of this family
(one larva of Tetracha carolina, and
one Cicindela repanda) in the latitude
of ~ e & Orleans. Afterwards I saw
C. tortzbosa with C. ~epanda at the
mouth of Red River. Though I visit-




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2-20 PS2 CHl?. [October-December 1884.
ed Lake Pontchartrain several times in
the first part of April, and also on 19
and 20 June, I could find no traces of
Ciciadeh at all then, either on the
beach or elsewhere.
They are proba-
bly found here, however, at other times
of the year. Not one was to be seen
in the low country along Bayou la
Fourche during April, May and June.
Leaving New Orleans, and going up
the river, I found them more plentiful
in the higher country in the northern
part of the state. They occur all along
the river on the sand flats above the
levee system and on the sandy mud-
banks of the lower river.
Brachynus tomentwius is abundant
under old wood in moist places.
This is
a much larger species than our northern
bombardiers, and emits its explosions
vigorously and with continued frequen-
cy, causing great pain unless carefully
handled. Kirby and Spence state that
they were informed by M. Lacordaire
that the burning sensation arising from
the discharges of the large exotic species was so painful that he had often been
obliged to let those which he had taken
es~ape.~ This species may be among
those to which M. Lacordaire had refer-
ence ; it is certainly one of the & &large exotic species." These beetles have a
way of curling the tip of the abdomen
up so as to eject the burning liquid not only behind and on each side but also
frontwards over the back, and it is
often expelled in drops, and to a con-
siderable distance. The bombardiers
all seemed, when a log was rolled over,
8 Kirby and Spence's Entomology, 7th ed., p. 419. to take the alarm from the one which
first detected the danger and gave the
signal by emitting its explosion ; for all the others, wherever they might be,
would follow with their explosions as
-
soon as they heard that of one of their
number. By this habit I often discov-
ered individuals that had hidden in holes, or under leaves in the dirt.
In the flooded forest growths near
Bayou la Fousche I found several of the
ground-frequen ting carabidae ( Cklae-
&us fuscicornis, C. iaticollis and
others) under chips upon stumps that
rose above the water. So this is
how the carabs fared in their flooded
home, taking to stumps and logs in
default of the ground ! Arboreal forms
of these genera might be produced
in
this way, if inundation were to prevail
for a sufficient length of time and the
trees themselves continued to flourish
in the water as well as before. Before
the levee system was constructed the
coleoptera as well as the other animals
of southern Louisiana were undoubted-
ly accustomed to the periodical inunda-
tions caused by the risings of the
Mississippi forcing them to seek
11;ibi-
tation elsewhere than on the ground.
The ground-frequenting species that
survived probably then took to stumps
and logs, as in the present instance ;
while others confined then~selves to
the
foliage or bark of the trees, which
previously had been frequented by them
only a portion of the time. And thus
they lived until the waters subsided and allowed them to betake themselves to
their old retreats. Perhaps this ac-




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October-December 1884.1 PSYCHE. 22 1
counts for the scarcity of the cicindeli- he, and the absence of Calosoma (not
a specimen of which could be found)
in that part of the state. I might add in this connection that I also took a pair
of Eudocimzts nzannerheiwzii, besides
some cerambycidae (Lei>tura abdomi-
nalis) and some other coleoptera all on
one stump a good distance out in the
flooded forest.
Not a specimen of the sil'phidue was
taken ; this is undoubtedly owing to the great numbers of buzzards, which effect- ually clean up every thing in the shape
of carrion.
I noticed that specimens
of Dicerca
obscq instead of taking immediate
flight when alarmed, loosed their hold
from the plants (wormwood [Artemisia]
and ragweed [Ambrosia} ) to which
they were clinging, and dropped to the
ground like weevils ; which is a far more inactive mode of escape than that em-
ployed by some others of this family, for example Chrysobothris femorata.
Chauliognaths marg'/'natzis, which
is very abundant upon patches of blos-
som in the South, seems to prefer yellow flowers, as its color assimilates better with the yellow ; and upon these it is
generally found. Though it is some-
times found upon white daisies, the stig- mata of these are yellow, and help
to
blend the color of the insect with that
of the flower. I noticed on 17 April that many of these insects were infested with a little red mite.
I took a specimen of Neoclytus ery-
throcefhalus on a tuft of the common
ragweed [Ambrosia artemisiaefolia] ,
18 May. Clinging in the green foliage
of the weed, this cei-ambycid, with the
four bright yellow transverse markings
of its elytra continuing clear around the body, resembled exactly at $?,st sight
a species of hornet 01- wasp which has
the abdomen encircled with yellow
bands, so that I hesitated a moment
before capturing it. Its slender and
cylindrical form and long legs so like
a wasp's combine with the bright
yellow bands to make up a deception
calculated to imbue more animals than
one with the dread of a concealed sting
.
ready to prove effective should they have the audacity to meddle with it.
I noted an interesting fact relating to
sexual selection in Des?nocerns 'pallia- tus. These beetles are quite abundant
on the elder leaves [Sambztcus] in
April, at this time pairing. On 22
April I noticed a very brightly colored
pair in coitu upon a leaf, and on another leaf right by them an individual which
had the orange bases of the elyti-a not
nearly so bright or deeply colored as
usual, but looking- faded. On 27 April
I observed a similar instance of a
brightly colored pair with a dull color- ed, lone individual near by. This
shows that the dull-colored indi-
viduals do not stand much chance of
pairing, but that the bright ones select each other. Dull ones are not very
common, and are probably of chance
occurrence. I noticed that this species
was much more plentiful on the leaves
on cold and cloudy days than on warm
and bright ones.
One morning, going by a wood-pile,
I heard something suddenly drop from
above and strike on one of the lower




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sticks of wood.
Supposing it to be a
beetle, I looked carefully and found a
specimen of Acanthoderes quadriyib-
6~1s) apparently lifeless, but lively enough as soon as I picked it up.
This species almost invariably drops
when approached.
In color it assim-
ilates so well with the whitened boards, or other old, weathered pieces of wood
to which it may be clinging, that it is
often difficult to detect it. The habit
222 PSTCHE.
[October-December 1884.
of dropping and remaining perfectly
motionless for a short time has been
acquired by many coleoptera as a means
of escape from some of their many
enemies. But in this instance the beetle, instead of escaping, drew my attention
right upon it by this habit.
When Mecas inornata sees any one
approaching towards it, at some distance, it generally takes wing and flies a long ways ; but if one is very near and about to capture a specimen it usually drops
and feigns death.
PZagiodera scripts was abundant in
all stages on some cottonwood or pop-
lar sprouts \_Pofulus moniltj'era\
along a ditch on a plantation. The
editors of the American entomologist
have illustrated several variations in the elytral markings of this ~pecies.~ But
of the forty-three specimens taken by
me in Louisiana every one is of the
normal form. I did not notice that the
species injured any planted cottonwoods
here at this time.
On stems of elder [Sambucus]
(also taken on young poplar 01- cotton-
wood sprouts) the little black Chaico-
demus aeneus was quite abundant.
These hard, finely punctured, chunky
4 American entomologist, 1880, v. 3, p. 160. little weevils take up their positions at the joints of the elder stalks, and thus easily pass for leaf-buds just appearing, and still enveloped in their dark red
(nearly black) outer coverings. This
is a very interesting and effective decep- tion.
I took thirty-six specimens of Rho-
dobaemis G-junctatus. These show
considerable variation in the elytral
markings. Twenty-three have the thir-
teen spots more or less clearly defined ; eleven have the two posterior and inner- medial spots united in one marking
extending over both elytra ; one has the two posterior, inner-medial and anterior spots united in one large marking, leav- ing only the outer-medial on each
elytron in its normal form, and having
the middle and two posterior protho-
racic spots united, leaving the shield
three-marked ; and one is well defined,
11-punctate, having none of the spots
united, but with the two outer-medial
entirely wanting.
One day 1 noticed an individual of
this species upon a plant that had been
overrun by a party of ants.
The weevil
was running up and down trying to
escape from its hymenopterous enemies,
which kept running over it and attack-
ing- it. All the while it gave forth an
agreeable scent very similar to pepper-
mint ; agreeable to me, but pel haps
not to the ants, to repel whom it might
have been intended. The scent did
not seem to arrest the progress of the
ants in the least, and the "sheath-wing" would probably have succumbed to the
"vein-wings" in the end, had I not
rescued the former for my collecting
bottle.




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