2 Bolton, " Mark Stimrp " Colic ct'wu of Fossil hi sects. 



of the latter found expression m the short papers^ which he 

 contributed to the Transactions of t/te Manchester Geological 

 Society, and in his review in the Geological Magazine of Brong- 

 ni art's work. 



There can be little doubt therefore but that the collection 

 of fossil insects now in the Manchester Museum was fonnecl by 

 Brongniart himself, and given to his friend, Stirrup. 



Inasmuch therefore as Brongniart's researches, even more 

 than those of Scudder or Goldenberg, served to establish the 

 study and classification of Palaeozoic insects upon a firm basis, 

 and the Mark Stirrup Collection having been brought together 

 by him, it naturally possesses something more than an ordinary 

 \'alue. 



That these fossil insects have found a ])crmanent home in 

 the Manchester Museum is a matter for satisfaction. 



The Collection consists of nine specimens, of which five 

 are blattoids. Brongniart in his first monograph, "Les Insectes 

 des Temps Primaires," did not fully deal with the blattoid 

 group, reserving them, according to .Stirrup, for a special and 

 more exhaustive study in a later work. The early death of 

 Brongniart m i8qq, when only forty years of age, prevented 

 this design being carried out, and probably also accounts for 

 the fact that the collection given to Stirrup included species not 

 hitherto described. 



Later v^'orkers, especially Messrs. Leriche and Meunier, 

 have added to our knowledge of the Commentry blattoids, but 

 I do not know that they had access to the Stirrup Collection. 



All the insect remains occur in a compact and thin, flaggy 

 mudstone, containing very little mica, and hnely laminated. 

 The rock is one which was evidently deposited in quiet, or 

 stagnant water. The only other fossils found in association 

 with the insects in the Mark Stirrup Collection are fragments 

 of Pecopteris. 



Megagnatha odonatifonnis. gen. et. s}). n. PL I ; hgs. I — 4. 



Generic diagnosis. — Antennae of medium length, thorax 

 much elongated, wings broad and delicate, legs long, widely 

 separated, and not adapted for leaping. Abdomen long and 

 broad. 



1. " The Fossil Insects of the Primary Rock?,'' by Charles Brong- 

 niart of Paris, translated by Mark Stirrup, F.G.S. Transactions of 

 the Manchester Geological Society, Vol. XVIII., pp. 269-292. 



" Notes on the Carboniferous Insects found at the Commentry 

 Mines (AUier), France," by Mark Stirruix Trans. Manchester Gcol. 

 Soc, pt. Ill, Vol. 21. 



'' The Carboniferous Insects of Commentry, France," bv Mark 

 Stirrup, F.G.S. Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc.,_ pi. XXI., Vol. 22. 



" On the Fossil Insects of the Primary Periods," a review of M. 

 Charles Brongniart's book, by Mark Stirrup, F.G.S. Trans. .Man- 

 chester Geol. Soc., pt. v., Vol. 23. 



See also Geological Magazine, Decade IV., Vol. i ^, p. 233, iSo^. 



