THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 349 



instead of cornuta ; Laothois, instead of Laothoe ; Monodon- 

 lomerus, Walk., instead of Monodonlomerns, Westw. ; 

 Endeiiis, instead of Euderus. Some Pleroraali, which were 

 separated from PteromaUis without sufficient consideration, 

 are reunited to that genus in this list. 



Francis Walker. 



" The Origin and Distribution of the Insects of the British 

 Isles.''' By Edwin Birchall, Esq. 



Eead to the Leeds Naturalists' Fiekl-CIub and Scientific Association, on 

 the 25th of February, 1873. 



Mr. Birchall began by stating that his object was to 

 offer some suggestions as to whence the insects of the 

 British Islands have been derived. 



Fossil insects were first adverted to, and the earliest-known 

 forms from the carboniferous rocks described. In England, 

 insects have been most abundantly found in rocks of the 

 wealden and oolitic periods ; of these a large proportion are 

 Coleoptera, mostly of modern genera, and some cannot be 

 distinguished from species still existing in England. " The 

 poor beetle that we tread upon" surely deserves a better fate, 

 when we consider that he has walked the earth unchanged 

 since the days of the iguanodon and pterodactyle. Com- 

 pared with his, how short the pedigree of the proudest noble, 

 or even of the human race; to the dor-beetle (Geotrupes 

 stercorarius) probably belongs the title of " the oldest inha- 

 bitant" of the earth. 



The Lepidoptera of the secondary period in England, so 

 far as is known, were of a tropical character, and it seems 

 useless to look for traces of any of our present forms until 

 after the glacial epoch; the conditions of climate during that 

 period of desolation must have been such as to destroy or 

 compel the migration southward of all existing species. 



In the main, Mr. Birchall agreed with the propositions 

 laid down by the late Professor Edward Forbes, in his essay 

 on "The Geological Relations of the Existing Fauna and 

 Flora of the British Isles," published in 1846, and considered 

 that the great bulk of our sjjecies have been derived from 

 Central Europe, as there is not a species which is universally 



