52 [AuBUMt, 



" parisoii, however, witli a numerous series of that species, I find it to 

 " be distinct. Tour species has the prothorax relatively broader, dis- 

 " tinctly more rounded at the sides, and contracted at the base, the 

 " punctuation at the sides more open, the elytra not opaque, and with 

 " but very few of the small, shining, black granules which stud the 

 " surface in elongata ; the two costiform elevations down the middle of 

 " each elytron are in your species obsolete." 



This species is probably to be found in numbers in the province 

 of Otago ; a series of good specimens sent by Prof. Hutton from there 

 shew but little variation. 



I may here remark that I am in hopes that the very difficult 

 species of this genus may be elucidated by examination of the characters 

 distinctive of the sexes ; I feel pretty sure that more than one true 

 species is at present called ''■ elongaia,''' although the examples before 

 me do not enable me to settle the point. 



(To he concluded in our next). 



INTRODUCTOEY PAPERS ON FOSSIL ENTOMOLOGY. 

 BY H. GOSS, r.L.S., P.G.S. 



No. 2. 

 \_The comparative age of the existing Orders of Insects, and the 

 seq^uence in which they ap])eared on the Geological Horizon.^ 



Primary or Palaeozoic Period. 



Up to the present time no traces of insects have been met with in 

 the most ancient fossiliferous rocks. The oldest organic remains,* 

 belonging to one of the lowestf classes of the animal kingdom, were 

 discovered by Sir Wm. Logan, in 1859, in the Laurentian rocks of 

 Canada. 



The Cambrian rocks contain remains of IIydrozoa,Echinodermata, 

 Mollusca, and Crustacea of the lower grades. Prom the Silurian rocks, 

 in addition to remains of animals of the classes before-named, the 

 oldest known Vertebrates have been obtained, consisting of ganoid and 

 placoid fishes. 



The earliest traces of insects at present known, were discovered 

 in the upper portion of the next series — the Devonian or old red 

 sandstone. They consisted of a few broken wings of Neuroptera, or 



■* The oldest kuown fossil has been named by Dr. Dawson Eozoon canadevse. Sir Charles 

 Lyell observes of it: — "It appears to have grown one la j'er over another, and to have formed 

 " reefs of limestone, as do the living coral-building polyp animals." 



■+ Foraminifera. 



