202 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [May 



ON SOME REMAINS OF PALAEOZOIC INSECTS 



RECENTLY DISCOVERED IX 



XOTA SCOTIA AND KEW BEUISWICK. 



By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.E.S., F.G.S. 



In connection with the preparation of the second edition of 

 "Acadian Geology," I have obtained, from friends who have been 

 engaged in geological investigations in Nova Scotia and New 

 Brunswick, some interesting illustrations of the entomology of the 

 Carboniferous and Devonian Periods, which I have thought it might 

 be useful to publish in advance of the appearance of my work. 



1. Carboniferous Insects. 



The existence of insects in the Carboniferous period has long 

 been known. The coal formations of England and of West- 

 phalia afforded the earliest specimens ; and, more recently, some 

 interesting species have been found in the Western States.* 

 They belong to the order of the Ncuroptera (shad-flies, etc.), 

 the Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.), and Coleoptera 

 (beetles, etc.) 



In the coal-field of Nova Scotia, notwithstanding its great 

 richness in fossil remains of plants, insects had not occured up to 

 last year, except in a single instance — the head and some other 

 fragments of alarge insect, probably Neuropterous, found by me in 

 the Coprolite or fossil excrement of a reptile enclosed in the trunk 

 of an erect Sigillaria at the Joggins, along with other animal 

 remains. This specimen was interesting, chiefly as proving that 

 the small reptiles of the coal period were insectivorous, and it was 

 noticed in this connection in my " Airbreathers of the coal period." 

 Last year, however, Mr. Jas. Barnes, of Halifax, was so fortunate 

 as to find the beautiful wing represented in Fig. 1, in a bed of 

 Uhale, at Little Glace Bay, Cape Breton. The engraving is taken 

 from^aphotograph kindly sent to me by Rev. D. Houeyman, F.G.S. 

 It will be observed that in consequence, probably, of the mutual 

 attraction of loose objects floating about in water, a fragment of 

 a frond of a fem, Alethopteris fonchitica, lies partly over the wing, 

 obscuring its outline, but bearing testimony to its carboniferous 

 date. The wing has been examined by Mr. S. II. Scudder, of 

 Boston, who has made such specimens his special study, and who 

 * See Lyell's Elements, and Dana's Manual for references. 



