58 August, 



flat shape." But in a later observation, he is of opinion that " there 

 certainly loas a memhraney I believe the fact of the double coat of 

 the caterpillar-skin, and that it is the inner alone which enters into 

 the structure of the so-called ligament, vpill reconcile these varying 

 appearances at different times in the course of pupation ; and whilst 

 I concur fully in an opinion which he expresses in his first letter, that 

 the special organ is " these knobs with their pointed beaks," I do not 

 think the form of attachment is the simple mechanical one of hook 

 and eye. 



Milford, Lettei'kenuy : 



1st July, 1879. 



INTRODUCTOEY PAPERS ON FOSSIL ENTOMOLOGY.' 

 BY HEEBEET GOSS, E.L.S., F.G.S. 



No. 8. 



JKesozoic Time. 



[0;i the Insecta of the Cretaceous Period, and the animals and plants 



with which they were correlated?^ 



The Cretaceous Period, which brings us to the conclusion of the 

 Mesozoic Age — the second of those great Epochs into which Geological 

 Time has been divided, is remarkable for the number of genera of 

 reptiles which disappear at its close, and for the first appearance of 

 some of the existing types of plants. 



As so large a portion of the Cretaceous Rocks is of marine origin, 

 and was deposited in deep water, remains of the insect life of the 

 Period are necessarily very rare ; but in the Wealden formation of the 

 south-east of England, which is of freshwater origin, a few insects 

 have been discovered, and traces of them have also been met with in 

 other sections of the Cretaceous series on the continent of Europe. 



Great Britain. 



Loioer Cretaceous or Neocomian. 



(Wealden). 



The principal collection of fossil insects from the Wealden was 



made by Messrs. W. R. & H. Binfield,* at a place called the "Govers," 



near St. Leonards-on-Sea. This collectionf included wings and elytra 



of Coleoptera, and wings, or parts of wings, of Neuroptera and Diptera. 



A few elytra of Coleoptera have also been found in the Wealden 



marlstone, between Tonbridge and Maidstone ; and some traces of in- 



* Quor. Jouni. Geol. Soc, vol. x, p. 171. 



t These insects have not, I believe, ever been named or described. 



