1-jL* URIT1SH APHIDES. 



tamus, and the graceful, deer-like Xiphodon. In the 

 Eocene beds of Central Europe cercopithecoid mon- 

 keys roved the trees, and bats also flitted after 

 nocturnal insects. 



The Eocene formations of both the old and the new- 

 world furnish abundant testimony to the existence of 

 several genera of Aphidina3. Where the fossil conifers 

 abound the Lachnince are chiefly represented; the 

 deciduous trees mostly give examples of Aphis proper. 



In Britain, probably the climate of what is now Alum 

 Bay in the Isle of Wight did not greatly differ from that 

 of the Eocene of Central Europe. At this early time 

 Aralia, Sequoia, Carsia, and Quercus ilex flourished. 

 Prof. Heer likens such a flora to that of the marls of 

 Monte Bolca, near Verona, where the myrtles and 

 sandalwood trees gradually replace the more tropical 

 ferns and plants of an Indo- Australian type.* 



Briefly I pass over the insects obtained from 

 the Eocene beds of England, such as the Coleo- 

 ptera of Corfe, in Dorset, and those repeatedly 

 brought to light from the limestone of Gurnet Bay 

 (Bembridge series), in the Isle of Wight, as no notices 

 have been published of the occurrence of Aphides 

 amongst them. Mr. Goss says " that there can be 

 little doubt that the Insecta were then abundantly 

 represented, and their rarity as fossils in the Eocene 

 formations of Great Britain can only be accounted for 

 on the assumption that the conditions under which 

 they were deposited must have been generally un- 

 favorable to their preservation. "f 



Although the Miocene beds of Badoboj, in Croatia, 

 were not fully investigated till Prof. 0. Heer com- 

 menced their study, Dr. J. Unger had described and 

 figured sundry of their well-preserved fossil insects 

 in 1839. They consisted of Diptera, Coleoptera, 

 " Rhynchota, and Hemiptera." I cannot find, how- 

 ever, any trace of Aphides described in his memoirs. 



* Prof. O. Heer, ' The Primeval World,' vol. i, p. 281. 

 f H. Goss, ' The Geol. Autiq. of Insects/ p. 37. 



