1878. 53 



Pseudo-Neuroptera , allied to the TLpliemerce, and were obtained b_y 

 Mr. C. F. Hartt, in certain plant-bearing shales (of Devonian age) 

 near St. John's, New Brunswick. 



Although these insects are the most ancient j'et discovered, and 

 " show * a remarkable union of characters now found in distinct 

 " Orders of insects," thus differing from any existing types, it is im- 

 probable that they represent the earliest forms of the class to wdiich 

 they belong. In all other classes of the animal kingdom with whose 

 fossil remains we are acquainted, as well as in the vegetable kingdom, 

 the simpler forms precede the more highly organized. There seems 

 no reason for supposing that the Insecta formed any exception to this 

 rule, and we may fairly assume that the earliest types of this class 

 were likely to have been smaller in size, simpler in form, and even less 

 specialized than these remarkable Neuropteroid insects of the upper 

 Devonian period ; and that they had probably existed for ages before 

 that epoch, as had representatives of the Crustacea, the Mollusca, and 

 even the Verfebrata.f 



Reasoning from the analogy which one may assume to exist 

 between the Insecta and other classes of the animal kingdom in pro- 

 gressive development, it seems not unlikely that further researches in 

 earlier Devonian strata, and possibly in rocks of even greater age, 

 may bring to light still more ancient forms of insect life, as different 

 from those of the present day, as are the Ushes of Devonian J age from 

 existing Orders. 



I will now pass on to the insects of the carboniferous period, the 

 next in the ascending order of Geological succession to the Devonian. 



No insects have been found in the carboniferous or mountain 

 limestone, but from the coal measui^es of Grt. Britain, Belgium, 

 Germany, and America, a considerable number have been obtained, 

 including nearly ninety species. 



With the exception of two species of Coleoptera and thi-ee species 

 of Semiptera, these insects have all been referred to the Netiroptera^ 

 and OrtJioptera. 



The Neuroptera comprise Tennes, Dictyoneura, Mlamia, Semeristia, 

 Eplieme7^ites, &c., and the Orthoptera include Locustidce, Mantidce, 

 Fhasmidce, and a great number of Blattidce, which family appears to 



* Dr. Dawson, in the Geological Magazine for September, 1867. 



t The oldest known type of fishes (and of Vertebrates) is described by J. W. Salter, F.G.S., in 

 the Annals and Mag. of Kat. Hist., vol. iv, 1850. 



I Hugh Miller alludes to these Devonian fishes as: — " creatures whose very typo is lost — 

 " fantastic and \uicouth — and which puzzle the Ivaturalist to assign them even their class." — The 

 Old Red Sandstone, 2nd edit., lUi-l. 



§ About five of these have, with the Devonian insects, been placed by Dr. Goldenberg in his 

 extinct Order I'akeodictpojjtera. 



