PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 989 



23. TennopsU swinhoei. A, costapiual part of wing ; B, side view of head ; C, joints 



of apical lialf of antenna. 



24. Hndolennes tristis. Wing. 



[Xdte. — .AH of the foregoing figures liave been copied from tlic papers quoted 

 above.] 



This paper is intended to draw your attention to tlie occurrence Mr. Fletcher, 

 in India of insects in a fossilized condition .so that any of you, who have 

 an opportunity of so doing, may perhaps be able to procure further 

 material. I need hardly point out the extreme 'interest of the study 

 of fossil insects, more especially from the point of view of the liglit 

 which they throw upon the evolution of insects in the past. I can 

 only regret that I have as yet failed entirely to obtain any specimens 

 of fossil insects in India and therefore I have no specimens to exhibit 

 to you. During a recent visit tp Nagpur, I made a search in the intev- 

 trappean limestones but entirely without success so far as insects were 

 concerned, although it was in this locality that Hislop obtained numerous 

 specimens some sixty years ago. 



The consideration of fossilized specimens of insects leads us 

 to consider how insects are being preserved at the present day under 

 natural conditions in Such a way that in the course of ages they may, 

 under favourable chances, become fossilized. Insects such as those 

 now found fossil in amber must have become enclosed in the amber 

 whilst this was still soft, presumably whilst it was oozing from the tree 

 in the form of a gum. Now, if we examine present-day gums as they 

 exude from the tree, we frequently find that this gum contains small 

 insects. I have here [exhibited] some pieces of Kadaii {Sterculia wrens) 

 gum fi-om the Dohad Hills forests and, if you examine them, you will 

 see that they contain small ants of existing species which are normally 

 found running about on tree-trunks and which have been caught in 

 this gimi whilst it was still liquid, although it has now hardened. Under 

 natural conditions in an undisturbed forest, this gum might finally 

 get buried in the ground and in the course of ages would become 

 fossilized along with the included insects. 



When I was at Minbu in Lower Burma a few years ago I saw some 

 of the so-called " mud volcanoes " there. These are small hillocks 

 built up of mud by the action of a stream of nnid which flows up from 

 underground. This mud is extremely fine and, when fi-eshly exuded, 

 insects, even minute gnats, which fall onto it, are caught by the sticky 

 surface of the mud. I have here some specimens [exhibited] of insects 

 found half-imbedded in this mud and you will see that they have every 

 ap])earance of fossil specimens, now that the mud has hardened. If 

 this mud were preserved so as to form rock in the course of time it 



