II. The Early Types of Insects ; or the Origin and Sequence of Insect Life in 



Palaeozoic Times. 



By Samuel H. Scudder. 



Read Nov. 20, 1878. 



J-N THE year 1833, Audouin exhibited at a meeting of the Entomological Society of 

 France the wing of an orthopterous insect from Coalbrook Dale in England. 1 This was the 

 first discovery of insects in the coal-formation. Since then many authors, notably Germar 

 and Goldenberg, 2 have added to our knowledge of the insects of the palaeozoic rocks, until 

 now perhaps one hundred species are known. Yet insect remains in these strata may still 

 be looked upon as the greatest rarities. By far the larger part of these hundred species are 

 known to us by single specimens, and very fragmentary ones at that — a wing or even a 

 mere piece of a wing being usually all that we know of a given form. It has been claimed 

 by some writers that we should anticipate the earliest types of insects to be winged and not 

 apterous, and the remains that have been found would seem at first glance to sustain such 

 a hypothesis. But as the wings retain after inhumation more characteristic features than 

 other parts of the body, it is not surprising that naturalists have made most use of them in 

 describing the fossil forms ; and we should scarcely be warranted in deducing therefrom the 

 absence of other fragments of the body ; moreover a characteristically apterous form of 



1 Ann. Soc. Ent. France, Vol. II, Bull., p. 7-8. It is also 

 stated that the same specimen was exhibited by Audouin on 

 Feb. 25, 1833, before the Academie des Sciences; but no re- 

 port of the meeting was published, unless in Le Temps 

 newspaper, which I have not seen. The insect was consid- 

 ered by Audouin as neuropterous, but has recently been 

 shown by Swinton to be orthopterous. 



2 For Germar's writings on palaeozoic insects, see the 

 following : — 1. Beschrcibung einiger neuen fossilen Insecten. 

 < Miinst., Beitr. z. Petref., v: 79-94, pi. 9, 13. 4°. Bay- 

 reuth,1842. — 2. Die Versteinerungen des Steinkohlengebirges 

 von Wcttin nnd Lbbejiin in Saalkreise. f°. Halle, 1844-53. 



For those of Goldenberg, see the following : — 1. Prodrom 

 einer Naturgeschichte der fossilen Insecten der Kohlenforma- 

 tion von Saarbriicken. < Sitzungsb. math.-nat. CI. K. 

 Akad. Wiss. Wien, ix: 38-39. 8°. Wien, 1852. (In this 

 his name is given as Goldberger). — 2. Brief an Herrn v. 

 Carnall. < Zeitschr. Deutsch. Geol. Gesselsch., iv: 246-48. 

 8°. Berlin, 1852. — 3. Ueber versteinerte Insectenreste in 

 Steinkohlengebirge von Saarbriicken. < Amtl. Ber. Vers. 

 Gesellsch. deutsch. Naturf., xxix: 123-26. 4°. Wiesbaden, 

 1852. — 4. Die fossilen Insecten der Kohlenformation von 



Saarbriicken. < Palaeontogr., IV : 17-40, pi. 3-6. 4°. Cassel, 

 1854. — 5. Beitrage zur vorweltlichen Fauna des Steinkoh- 

 lengebirges zu Saarbriicken (Uebersicht der Thierreste 

 der Kohlenformation von Saarbriicken). < Jahresb. K. 

 Gymn. u. Vorsch. Saarbr., 1867, 1-26. 4°. Saarbriicken, 

 1867. — 6. Zur Kenntniss der fossilen Insecten in der Stein- 

 kohlenformation. < Neues Jahrb. f. Mineral., 1869: 158-68, 

 pi. 3. 8°. Stuttgart, 1869. — 7. Zwei neue Ostracoden und 

 cine Blattina aus der Steiukohlenformation von Saarbriicken. 

 < Neues Jahrb. f. Mineral., 1870: 286-89 with figures in 

 text. 8°. Stuttgart, 1870. — 8. Fauna Saraepontana fossilis. 

 Die fossilen Thiere aus der Steiukohlenformation von Saar- 

 briicken. Heft 1-2. 4°. Saarbriicken, 1873-77. (Heft 1 is 

 the same as No. 5, above, with the addition of plates; a 

 supplementary part is promised by Goldenberg.) 



For other papers descriptive of the palaeozoic insects of 

 Europe, see the writings of Andree, van Beneden and 

 Coemans, Preudhommede Borre, Brodie, Charles Brongniart, 

 Buckland, Corda, Curtis, Dohrn, Frie, Geinitz, Giebel, 

 Hagen, Heer, Jordan and Meyer, Kirkby, Mahr, Murchison, 

 Roeraer, Rost, Salter, Sternberg, Swinton, and Woodward ; 

 ami for those of America, papers by Dana, Dawson, Harger, 

 Lesquereux, Meek and Wortlien, Scudder, and Smith. 



