126 [November, 



continent of Europe, in whicli any remains of Insecta have been 

 discovered, are the marls and limestones of Monte Bolca, near Verona, 

 in Italy, which have for more than a century been celebrated for the 

 number and variety of the fossils obtained from them. 



The earliest known fossil insect from this celebrated formation was 

 figured by Scheuchzer, in 1723, in his " Herbarium diluvianum," and 

 referred by him to the Lih(^Uiilidce, genus OorduUa. This fossil has 

 since been described by Signer Massalongo,t who has named it Cordulia 

 Scheuchzeri, and who states that it appears to be more like Cordidia 

 metaUica than any other living species. Signer Massalongo has also 

 described^ and figured six other species from Monte Bolca, viz. : — 1 

 Neitroptera {Termes Peccance), 2 Coleoptera {Ancylocliira deleta and 

 Ferotis Icevigata), 1 Orthoptera {Forjicula Bolcensis), and 2 Diptera 

 {Dipterites Angelini and Bihio Sereri). 



Upper Eocene. 



The freshwater marls and beds of gypsum in the neighbourhood 

 of Aix, in Provence, have long been celebrated for their fossils. The 

 first allusion to the discovery of insects in these strata was made by 

 M. Marcel de Serres§ in 1828, and in the year following, in an imi^x)r- 

 tant work II on the fossil invertebrates of the Tertiary formations of 

 the south of France, he published a list of the genera to which all the 

 then known fossil insects from this district had been referred. 



In the same year (1829) a collection of fossil insects was made at 

 Aix by Sir Roderick Murchison^ and Sir Charles Lyell ; and since that 

 date numbers of specimens have from time to time been obtained there 

 by collectors from various parts of Europe. For lists of the genera 

 and species of these fossils, and for descriptions and figures of upwards 

 of a hundred species, we are indebted to M. Marcel de Serres,** Mr. 

 Curtis,tt Prof. Bronn,^ the Eev. F. W. Hope,§§ Prof. Germar,|||| 

 Dr. Boisduval,^T[ M. Saussure,*** Prof. Oswald IIeer,ttt M. 

 Oustalet,+++ Mr. S. H. Scudder,§§§ and M. Daudet.|||||| 



It is impossible to estimate the total number of species of all 

 Orders obtained from the Aix formations, as in many cases only the 

 names of the genera to which they have been referred are given ; but 



t Studii Paleontologiei, 1856, pp. 14—21. t Op. last cited. § Annales des Sciences 

 Naturelles, 1828 || Gtjognosie des Terrains Tertiaires, <fec., 1829. IT Edinburgh New Phil. 



Jour., pp. 287-297, October, 1829. ** Op. ontea cu. (Geognosie des Terrains Tertiaires). 

 tt Edinburgh New Phil. Jour., antea cit. U Lethea Geognostica, vol. ii, p. 811, 1838. 



§§ Trans Entom. Soc. London, vol. iv, pp. 250 255. |||{ Zeitschrift der deutscheu Geolog. 

 Gesellsch., I, pp. 52—63, 1849. ITII Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, ix, p. 371. '•• Rev. et Mag de 

 Zool., iv, 1852. ttt " Ueber die j'ossile Insekten von Ai.K, in der Provence" — Vierteljahr-sschrift 

 der naturf. Gesellsch., Zurich, I, pp 1 40, 1850. jJt Recherches sur les Insectes Eossiles des 

 Ten-ains Tertiaires de la France CJndpt.), 1874. §§§ " Fos.sil Butterflies," in the Mem, Amer. 

 Assoc, for the Advanceuient of Science, S.alem, Mass., 1875. ||{||| Rev. et Mag. de Zool , pp. 415 

 -424, 1876. 



J 



