54 [August, 



have been more numerously represented, and more generally distri- 

 buted than any other at this period ; the three Hemiptera have been 

 referred to the Fulgorklce. 



As has been stated, a considerable number of insects have been 

 discovered in the coal measures ; but, until quite recently, only one 

 insect had been obtained from the comparatively more modern 

 Permian strata. This insect, according to Dr. Dohrn*, possessed 

 characters intermediate between those of the Hemiptera smdlfeuroptera, 

 and was apparently related genetically to the two Orders : it was 

 placed by Dr. Dohrn in an extinct Order, Bicft/ojjfera, and has since 

 been included by Dr. Goldenberg in his Order Palceodictyoptera. 



Since this remarkable insect was described by Dr. Dohrn, a few 

 Ulattidce have been obtained from Permian strata in Saxony, and have 

 been desci-ibed by Dr. Geinitz and Dr. Groldenberg. 



"With the Permian rocks we reach the close of the Primary or 

 PahTozoic Period, and pass into the Secondaiy Period. 



Secondary Period. 



In the oldest formation of this epoch — the Trias — remains of 

 insects are extremely rare, and up to the jn'esent time only five speci- 

 mens have been recorded from it, viz. : two Neiiroptera-\ and three 

 Coleoptera.-\ J 



In the Lias, remains of insects have been obtained in great 

 quantities. The Orders represented being the Neicroptera , Ortlioptera, 

 Coleoptera, and Hemiptera. 



One wing of an apparently Hymenopterous insect has been re- 

 corded by Dr. Heer, from the Lias of Schambelen in the Swiss Alps, 

 but as no remains of insects of this Order have been obtained 

 elsewhere from strata of this period — even in those localities in which 

 insect remains have been found in abundance, — it is probable that the 

 supposed Hymenopterous wing was that of an insect of another Order. 



In the Liassic rocks the Coleoptera are far better represented than 

 any other Order : no less than 110 § species having been determined 

 from the Swiss Lias, and 29 from British strata of this age ; and from 

 this remote period down to the present time the Coleoptera appear to 

 have been a dominant Order. It must be remembered, however, that 



• " Palseontographica," 1866, Bd. xiii, p. %^%, and op. cit., 1869, Bd. xvi, p. 329. 

 t " Die Urwelt dcr Schweiz," by Prof. Oswald Hecr, 1865 ; and an English translation of the 

 same by W. S. Dallas, edited by J. Heywood ; Loiidon, 1876. 



t Vierteljahrsscbrift der naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Ziirich. Viertes Heft, p. 297. 

 § See " Die Urwelt der Schweiz," Arc, anlc cit. 



