OF ENGLAND AND BAVARIA. ^3 



In direct contrast to what is above stated, the fossil strata 

 of England very rarely contain entire insects ; generally there 

 are only some parts of the wings, abdomen and thorax, and 

 these besides are generally imperfect. 



Hence it appears to me worthy of consideration, to ascer- 

 tain by an investigation of the fossils remaining in the English 

 strata, whether their position and state of preservation admits 

 of the inference that their deposition took place without 

 disturbance, and not rather that by storm or by other com- 

 motions the frao-ments were tossed about for a lono; time 

 before they found a resting-place. 



There is the less to be said against this conjecture, that the 

 wings of insects (which form by far the largest portion of 

 the Entomolooical fossils in the Eng-lish strata) are almost 

 indestructible in water. I have kept the wings of dragon-flies 

 in Vv'ater for years, without observing;: the slig-htest chano-e in 

 their texture. The preponderance of wings of Coleoptera in 

 the English strata also confirms my view, as from their 

 consistence they are better capable of resisting such violence 

 tlian the wings of other insects, whereas in the Solenhofen 

 strata on the other hand there are even vertebrata, which 

 confirm the idea of a leisurely and tranquil deposit. For 

 instance, one rarely finds a Pterodactyl of which all the parts 

 are not near together. 



A more precise study of the fossil insects of Bavaria, and 

 a comparison with those of England, enables me to draw two 

 conclusions. 



Firstly, that the two Fauna are extremely closely allied, and 

 that possibly some species occur in both formations. It will 

 at any rate require very strong arguments to prove the 

 distinctness of some species. 



Secondly, that the Fauna of the English and Bavarian 

 strata is not only quite distinct from the existing Fauna, but 



b2 



