4 FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE 1MMTISH COAL .ME AST RES. 



phalian and Stephanian stages of tin 1 Coal .Measures, tin- fauna with which they 

 aiv most often associated in this country may indicate a greater age, as it, is known 

 to occur as low down as the Calciferous Series of Scotland. Any statement, 

 therefore, of the range in time of lintish Palaeozoic insects based on the present 

 known forms may have to be set aside by later discoveries. 



The fauna with which fossil insects are usuallv associated in Great Britain is 

 one in which arachnids and certain of the more primitive' arthropods are the 

 dominant forms. Arachnids are kno\\n to occur in the ( 'alciferous Sandstone 

 Series of Scotland at Kedhall, near Slateford, Edinburgh, and in the Cement-stone 

 Group of the Lower Carboniferous at Langholme, Dumfriesshire (I'.'ll, Pocock, 

 ' Mon. Pal. Soc.,' p. IS), and elsewhere, the genus Archasoctonus being represented by 

 .1. (//(///(/ and .1. tuberculatns, and the genus Ci/clophthalmns by C. euglyptus at 

 Redhall, Blair Point, near Dysart, and Cramon near Edinburgh. 



No insect-remains are known from any of these hori/ons, but if the faunal 

 association seen in the Coal Measures is a trustworthy guide, they may be looked 

 for with some prospect of success. 



The faunal association existing in the '' Soapstone Bed " of the Lower Coal 

 Measures at Carre Heys, Colne, Lancashire (I'.M.io, Bolton, ' Geol. Mag. ' [>], vol. ii), 

 is so similar in character to the typical insect-fauna elsewhere, that it is likely 

 that insects lived in the Lower Coal Measure period in Lancashire. 



This faunal association at Carre Heys is as follows, and may lie compared 

 with the faunal association in which insects have been found to occur in other 

 coalfields : 



AETHROPODA. 



Pygocephalus cooperi, Huxley. 

 Anihrajpaleemon ferralnf, "\Vood\v. 



,. iriinjir,ii;li, Et lll'Vlil U'O 



Preshvichia r<itun<l<ita, AVoodw. 

 Architai~bus Kiilim-uH*, 



///, Peach. 



A MPHIBIA. 



In-owni, Woud\v. 



PISCES. 



ii, TIUIJ. 



Etiiji/rinus vildi [A. S. \Vo-nl\\.). 

 Microsaiirian remains. 



The oldest known fossil insect in the British Carboniferous appeal's to be a 

 fragmentary wing (Genentomum .-/<//</<//////), described l>y the author from shales 

 at a depth of li:!7 feet below the I Vdniiiisf er (ireat Vein in the liristol Coaltield, 

 and therefore al a considerable depth below the Pennant Grit. 



Pseiidofouquea cambrensis (A.\len} was obtained from the top of the Four-foot 

 Seam in the Lower Coal .Mea.-nres at the Llanbradach ( 'olliery near Cardiff ; while 

 the shales over the Xo. LI Khondda Seam have yielded a wing-fragmenl of 

 Boltoniella tenuitegminata (Bolton); and Ihe shales over the Graigola Seam have 

 \K'lded the wings of two Hlattoids, Hemimijlacris convexa and Or/l 

 lanceolata. 



