22 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



SOME BRITISH FOSSIL INSECTS. 



BY T. D. A. COCKERELL. 

 Boulder, Colorado. 



Carabites scoticus, n. sp. (fig. 28.) 



Elytron 5 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, inner basal corner rectangular, margins 

 very slightly convex except at apex and outer base; ten strije, not counting 

 the inner absolutely marginal one, outermost stria marginal except near base, 

 striae appearing sharp, but urider a high power seen to be weakly and closely 

 punctate; third and fourth striae (counting from inner margin) uniting at a 

 distance from apex about five times as great as the distance between striae. 



Eocene rocks, Island of Mull, with a series of plants now being described 

 by Professor A. C. Seward. The beetle elytron, which is in the collection at 

 Cambridge University, will be recorded in Professor Seward's paper on the 

 plants, but it seems best to describe it in an entomological journal. There 

 are in the collection two other elytra, too imperfect to describe. One is at 

 least very close to the above; the other is smaller, about 3 mm. long, weakly 

 striate, and is apparently a weevil. C. scoticus is in general much like Ancho- 

 menus fuliginosus Pz., but it lacks the series of strong marginal punctures. 

 It is quite distinct from the Eocene beetles of the south of England. 



This is the first tertiary insect from Scotland to receive a name, but J. S. 

 Gardner (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, XLIII, pi. XIII) figured a much larger 

 elytron and a hind wing of an Homopterous insect from the I. of Mull beds. 



Pseudosiricidae. 



Megapterites mirabilis Ckll. (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., March, 1920), from the 

 Eocene of Bournemouth, is the only Tertiary representative of this family. 

 It is a large insect, the anterior wing about 50 mm. long. Its nearest relative, 

 apparently, is Formicmm of Westwood, from the Lower Purbeck of Durdlestone 





Fig. 20. Fig. 27. Fig. 28. 



Bay. The type of Formicium brodiei Westw. is in the British Museum, where 

 I have recently examined it. At the same time, the type of Megapterites was re- 

 examined in company with Mr. Till yard, whose keen eyes detected some features 

 in the marginal cell which I had overlooked. After careful examination in a 

 good light, following Mr. Tillyard's suggestions, I must agree with him that the 

 marginal cell is closed and appendiculate at end, and has a cross nervure (in 

 the manner of Sirex) not far from the base. It also appears that the original 



January. 1921 



