Professor Pictet on the Insects found in Amber, 401 



ing to the warm zones of the globe, would seem to indicate 

 that the temperature has been higher than it now is, and that 

 the north of Prussia must have been placed in conditions in- 

 termediate between those which now characterise it and those 

 of the basin of the Mediterranean . I ought, at the same time, 

 to observe that considerations of this nature have an element 

 of uncertainty evidently attached to them. In fact, we com- 

 pare lost species with species which are not identical with 

 them, and we conclude, in general, that such as resemble each 

 other must have lived in similar climates, which is far from 

 being constantly demonstrated. But, while we acknowledge 

 that we must not assign too much importance to these com- 

 parisons, we are of opinion that it would be passing the limits 

 of a judicious caution to refuse altogether to take them into 

 account, the more so since the results they furnish agree with 

 what the study of other classes of animals establishes. 



The Articulata appears, moreover, to be the only division 

 of the animal kingdom of which amber has preserved suffi- 

 ciently numerous remains to throw some light on their his- 

 tory. With regard to the Mammifera, nothing else has been 

 found in amber connected with them than tufts of hair, one 

 of which, examined by a microscope, appears to have belonged 

 to a bat. The feather of a bird has likewise been found. 

 Among the Mollusca nothing further is mentioned than a few 

 small shells imperfectly preserved. — {Bibliotheque Univer- 

 selle.) 



