On some rare Fossils of Vestena Nova, 267 



racter of the mouth, the insect of Vestena Nova, which 

 differs from it only m the form and size of the body, but 

 which, like the fishes of that quarry, belongs in all proba- 

 bility to an exotic insect ; I have, however, published a 

 very accurate figure of it. The zoologists will be tnibled 

 to compare it with marine insects of the same genus, which 

 we may receive in the course of time from the Indian seas 

 or from New Holland. 



Fig. 5. represents a fossil crustaceous animal of the same 

 place, in good preservation: it resembles the Crustacea 

 known under the name of shrimps, which belong to the 

 genus Palcemon and Crangon of Fabricius; Cancer {aria- 

 cus) scjuilla, Herbst, Plate XXV IT, fig. 1. Cancer (artacus) 

 crangon, of the same, Plate XXIX, fig. 3 and 4. But the 

 Cancer squilla being much smaller than the fossil, it would 

 be more proper to refer it to the crangon, which is the opi- 

 nion of M. Latreilie, whom I consulted. However, not- 

 withstanding the respect due to the opinion of a naturalist 

 well vefsed in the knowledge of crustaceous animals, I 

 should rather be inclined to consider the fossil crab in ques- 

 tion, as nearer to the Cancer pedunculatus of Herbst, of 

 which a representation has been given by that naturalist, in 

 his 43d coloured plate, fig. 5. But as the latter, which is 

 exotic, is rare, and not in the collection of the Museum, we 

 can refer 'it only to the figure ; it is therefore prudent to 

 suspend our opinion till more favourable (jircumstances en- 

 able us to examine the insect in its natural state, 



I might publish in the annals of the Museum a descrip- 

 tion of some other objects of Vestena Nova, confining my- 

 self to those which do not belong to the beautiful series of 

 fish of the same place, destined to form the Ichthyology of 

 the Veronals, undertaken by the canon Volta ; I should 

 even have considered it as a merit to glean in a field which 

 belongs to him, and which he knows how to cultivate with 

 so much benefit to natural history, had not M. Gazola as- 

 sured me, that M. Volta's work will be exclusively conse- 

 crated to a description of the fossil fish of that mountain. 



body, with indentations the end of which there arc six feet ; the two which 

 are short at the end of the hollow part of the body are the largest and 

 the longest; the two following a little less, and the other two which are 

 more on the side, are the smallest of all. Rondclet Hist, des Poissons, 

 1558, folio, p. 78. 



T4 XLV. Me- 



