i 



78 THE CLASS OF INSECTS. 



In (lie Coal-beds of New BrunsAvick and Nova Scotia, sev- 

 eral interesting Myriopodous, Neuroptcrous" 

 and OrthopteroLis insects have been fonnd : 

 among them a Cockroach, Archimulacris 

 Acadica (PI. 1,* fig. 2). In Europe, Car- 

 , __^ boniferous insects have been discovered at 

 .-„-'- TVettin, Saarbriick, etc. 



^ *^ '-' The insects from these two formations 

 ■^^^ show a tendency to assume gigantic and 



strange shapes. Tliey are also compre- 

 Fig. C8. he7isive types ^ combining the characters of 



different families and even different suborders. The most re- 

 markable instance is the Encjereon Boeclivgii Dohrn, from the 

 Coal Formation of Germany. It has been referred by Dr. 

 Hagen, with some doubt, to the Hemiptera, from its long im- 

 mense rostrum into which all the month-parts are produced, the 

 labium ensheathing them as usual in the Hemiptera. Its fore- 

 legs are large and raptorial ; but the filiform many-jointed an- 

 tennae, and the net-veined wings are Neuropterovis characters. 

 Hence Dohrn considers it as a comprehensive type uniting 



* EXPLANATION OF PLATE 1. 



Fig. 1. Miamia Bronsonii. A Neuroptcrous insect founcl in iron-stone concre- 

 tions in the Carboniferous beds at Morris, Illinois. The ligure is magnified one- 

 third, and has all its parts restored; the dotted lines indicate the parts not existing 

 on the stone. Reduced from a ligure in the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Nat- 

 ural History, Vol. I. 



Fig. 2. Archimulacris Acadica. Wing of a Cockroach observed by Mr. Barnes 

 in the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. 



Fig. o. Platephemera antiqua. A gigantic May-fly obtained by Mr. Hartt in the 

 Devonian rocks of New Brunswick. 



Fig. 4. Xylobius sigillaricp.. The Myriopod (or Gally-wonn) found in the coal- 

 formation of Nova Scotia, by J. W. Dawson. Copied from a figure in Dr.Dawson's 

 Air-breathers of the Coal-period. Magnified. 



Fig. .5. Litkentomtim Hartii. A Neuroptcrous insect, the specimen first dis- 

 covered by Mr. Hartt in the Devonian rocks of New Brunswick. This fossil, and 

 those accompanying it, arc the oldest insect-remains in the world. 



Fig. 0. Three facets from the eye of an insect, considered by Dr. Dawson a 

 Dragon-fly. It was found in coprolites of reptiles in the rocks containing the My- 

 riopod, represented in Fig. 4. Copied from Dr. Dawson's figure, greatly magnified. 



Fig. 7. Uomothetns fonsili.t. A Neuroptcrous insect from the Devonian rocks of 

 New Brunswick ; it was discovered by Mr. Hartt. 



Fig. 8. flaplnphlebmm Barnesii. A curious Neuroptcrous insect, of lai'ge size, 

 probably allied to our May-flies; taken by Mr. Barnes from the coal of Cape Bre- 

 ton. 



These figures, with the exception of 1, 4, and 6, are of life size, and borrowed 

 from tiic new edition of Dr. Dawson's Acadian Geology. 



