1880.] 199 



(Gopris), and two species of Donacia, which last he considered aa 

 probably identical with some existing species. 



In 1862, the Rev. Osmond Fisher* obtained from peat and brick- 

 earth at Lexden, near Colchester, a vast number of elytra of Goleoptera, 

 the majority of which were in a very fragmentary condition. Mr, T. 

 Vernon "Wollaston, to whom these fragments were submitted, deter- 

 mined about eleven species, the majority of which belonged to the 

 OhrysomelidcB, Gurculionidce, Cassididce, and Tenebrionidce, though a few 

 specimens were doubtfully referred to Buprestidce and Carabidas. 



Mr. Wollaston was of opinion that none of the fragments which 

 he examined belonged to species identical with any of the existing 

 British forms, and from the size and brilliant metallic huesf of many 

 of the elytra he concluded that a much warmer climate, than is at 

 present enjoyed, then prevailed in Great Britain. 



Continental Europe. 



Several fragments of Goleoptera were obtained, in 1838, from beds 

 of peat, in the neighbourhood of Elsinore, by M. E. Eobert,J who 

 identified a few species, including Apliodius fossor, several Galerucidce, 

 and two species of Buprestidce. 



From the lignites and clays of Utznach§ and Diirnten, in Switzer- 

 land, remains of Goleoptera have been found in abundance. According 

 to Prof. Heer,|| these remains consist chiefly of the elytra of species 

 belonging to the genus Donacia, and they are said to be so abundant 

 as to be found by hundreds in some parts of the lignite, their metallic 

 blue and green colours rendering them very conspicuous objects. 

 From the form and configuration of their elytra, Prof. Heer has 

 identified two species of the genus Donacia, which he considers 

 identical with species now living about the Swiss lakes and marshes 

 viz., Donacia discolor and D. sericea ; he has also described from. 

 Diirnten an extinct species of Sylolius (H. rugosus) nearly allied to 

 a. Fineti, one species of the genus Pterosticlius (allied to P. nigrita), 

 and two species of Garahidce {Garahites diluvianus and G. cordicollis) , 

 which cannot be referred to any living forms. 



From a lignite formation at Chambery and Sonnaz, in Savoy, 



* See a paper " On the Brick Pit at Lexden, near Colchester," Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. xix, pp. 

 393—400, 1863, by the Rev. O. Fisher, M.A., P\G.S., and T. Vernon Wollaston, M.A., F.L.S. 



t "The existence in abundance of a large metallic Curculio, or anything else so gorgeously cyaneous, 

 as to have transmitted even a respectable tint to our times, is certainly more suggestive of a 

 warm climate than of a cold one." — T. V. Wollaston, in the paper last cited, p. 299. 



t Bull. Soc. Geol de France, tomeix, p. 114, 1838. 



§ M. Brull(5 has, also, recorded from those localities remains of several species of Goleoptera, inclu- 

 ding one species allied to Peronia leucojihthalma, another similar to Callidium fennicum, and an 

 Elater. 



II Die Urwelt dor Schweiz (1st edit.), pp. 481, &c., 1865. 



