POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



567 



number of crops that their food is almost 

 entirely confined to oatmeal, and milk, or 

 its products. Under such conditions only 

 the most vigorous children can survive; 

 consequently a natural selection has been 

 going on for centuries, by the operation of 

 which the people have acquired a superior 

 stature and cranial capacity. The legends 

 and traditions go back to a period when the 

 people's ancestors were all brigands, and 

 were at the same time very religious, and 

 when their moral and religious sentiments 

 were wholly independent of each other, or, 

 we might say, contradictory. They were ac- 

 customed never to start off on a predatory 

 expedition without invoking God and the 

 saints for. the success of the enterprise, and 

 the legends are full of testimonies of the 

 protection that Heaven accorded to the rob- 

 bers. The Church of St. Anne, at Nowy 

 Targ, it is said, was built by thieves as a 

 thank-offering for the care the Lord took 

 of them in one of their expeditions ! The 

 population appears to have been produced 

 from crosses of the neighboring races, which 

 ceased after it became considerable enough 

 to take care of itself, and it has consolidated 

 its traits under the immediate influences of 

 its environment. The Podolian territory, 

 protected by its inclosure of steep mount- 

 ains, was in the old times the refuge of 

 the outlaws of the neighboring country, who 

 met there and laid the foundations of the 

 present race. The chief element in the 

 composition was probably furnished by 

 Poles, whom the Podolians resemble in 

 psychological traits and language more than 

 they do their other neighbors. Next in im- 

 portance, perhaps, were the Slovacks, with 

 whom linguistic affinities are traceable. The 

 mental traits, tastes, and culture of the 

 Podolians are peculiar, and in some respects 

 incongruous with the conditions of their life. 

 They are addicted to letters, music, and 

 poetry, and are very religious. The only 

 one of the races around them that share 

 these tastes is the Ruthenians, but they 

 are at the same time capricious in dispo- 

 sition, and lacking in energy, activity, and 

 perseverance, while the Podolians are the 

 opposite. We must infer, then, that the 

 Podolians derive their refined tastes by in- 

 heritance from Ruthenian ancestors, while 

 their more vigorous qualities have been de- 



veloped under the influence of the struggles 

 which they have had to maintain with the 

 physical conditions of their country. The 

 superior cranial capacity of the Podolians, 

 which is remarkable, is likewise probably 

 owing to the constant draft which circum- 

 stances have made upon their resources and 

 the activitv of their intelligence. 



Fossil Insects. Mr. H. Goss has recently 

 concluded a series of papers reviewing the 

 studies of several paleontologists in fossil 

 insects. The hexapod insects constitute, aft- 

 er the crustaceans, the most numerous class 

 of ancient articulates with which we are 

 acquainted. Remains of their wings, quite 

 distinguishable, are found in the Devonian 

 formations of America and the Carbonifer- 

 ous of Europe. Myriapods appear first in 

 the Trias ; and Arachnids had not, until 

 scorpions were recently discovered in the 

 Carboniferous of Scotland, been found below 

 the Jurassic. The two most ancient insects 

 known are two which Mr. Scudder has de- 

 scribed from the fern-marked Devonian 

 strata of New Brunswick, one of which is 

 allied with the Neuroptera, or dragon-flies, 

 the other with the Orthoptera. These classes 

 seem to have the field to themselves till the 

 Carboniferous period, when the Hemiptera 

 and Coleoptera (and our Scottish scorpion) 

 first appear. The most common insects of 

 the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic epochs appear to 

 be of the family of the cockroaches, which 

 are very abundant in both continents, and 

 which Mr. Scudder has made the subject of 

 a special monograph. Insect remains be- 

 come more abundant in the Jurassic epoch. 

 A certain limestone of the English Lias is so 

 full of them that it is called the insect lime- 

 stone. The Coleoptera are most numerous, 

 probably because their horny elytrae better 

 resist decay, but Hymenoptera and Diptera 

 also are found at Solenhofen and Purbeck. 

 The cretaceous and tertiary beds, how- 

 ever, have furnished the largest number of 

 specimens that have been studied by pale- 

 ontologists, the multiplication of insects 

 having, it seems, been greatly favored by 

 the prevalence of angiospermous vegetation. 

 The Lepidoptera appear last, and are rare, 

 not more than ten authentic types of them 

 having been recognized. Certain beds, such 

 as those of Solenhofen, Aix in Provence, 



