400 Professor Pictet on the Insects found in Amber. 



appendages, approach nearer to the order Orthoptera, and in 

 particular to the family of the Phasmides. The Pseudo-per- 

 lides are probably, therefore, a family which forms a kind of 

 transition between the Orthoptera and Neuroptera. Some 

 doubts remain as to the question, whether the specimens we 

 possess are the larvae and nymphs, or whether they are perfect 

 insects with rudimentary wings, as often happens among the 

 Orthoptera. 



The new genera are a little more numerous. I have, how- 

 ever, found only three among the Neuroptera ; but some of 

 my fellow-labourers have distinguished a greater number, and, 

 on consulting the parts of the general catalogue already drawn 

 up, we shall find that the number of genera special to the 

 fauna of amber, represents nearly one-fifth of the entire num- 

 ber. Besides these new genera, there are some which are 

 found in the presently existing fauna, but which contain spe- 

 cies strangers to Prussia, and even to Europe. Thus, among 

 the Neuroptera, I have mentioned a Chauloides, a genus at 

 present confined to North America, an Embia, whose conge- 

 ners now live in warm zones, &;c. One of the most remark- 

 able genera in this point of view is that of Termes, which are 

 very abundant in amber, both in species and individuals. By 

 supposing that the specimens we have it in our power to ex- 

 amine are in the same proportion as the insects were them- 

 selves when alive, we shall find that this genus has furnished 

 0*17 of the population of the Neuroptera of amber ! At pre- 

 sent we are acquainted with none of them in Europe, save 

 some small southern species, which maritime commerce has 

 naturalized a little farther to the north than their native coun- 

 try : the size of the fossil species greatly exceeds that of the 

 latter, and it is only in the Termes of the warmest quarters 

 of the globe that we now find their analogues in this point of 

 view. 



If we attempt, by means of these facts, still in a very in" 

 complete state, to draw some conclusions respecting the cli- 

 mate of Europe during the epoch when amber was formed, 

 we can advance only very hypothetical conjectures. The great 

 number of Termes, and the presence of some species belong- 



