213 



A species of Astiicus and an Eryon (E. Barrovensis) of great size are not unfre- 

 queutly met with in the insect beds ; the largest I have seen in my collection 

 measures 6 inches long and 2A broad, and is in a remarkably fine state of 

 preservation. They occur in the same zone at Barrow, in Leicestershire, and 

 in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Somerset, but not generally so large 

 as in Warwickshire. In Gloucestershire and Worcestershire fiah are not 

 common, but more so in Warwickshire, and seem to be most frequent in 

 Leicestershire, where a much larger number of genera are known. Dapedius 

 is the most abundant, especially at Barrow, where fine specimens are found. 

 A remarkably perfect tttragonolepis fromWilmcote is in the Warwick museum, 

 and the small fish, j^holidophorus Stricklandi. The large Enaliosaurians are 

 well represented by some fine specimens of ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus -the 

 p. megaccphalus in the Warwick museum being nearly entire, and measuring 

 14 feet or more in length. It is stated to have been found in No. 21 of the 

 Wilmcote section ; but, as before observed, the great sea monsters of that date 

 are Eot restricted to that bed, but prevail more or less in all, from Nos. 2 

 to 30. The remains of plants, though small and fragmentary, are of consider- 

 able interest in association with the insects, because together they afford the 

 only evidence of the inhabitants of of the land. There are traces of conjervce 

 and musci, equisetacece (equisetum Brodlei, Bucknani, Liassium, Heerii, &c.), 

 and filices (otopteris obtusa and acuminata) pinacece (cupressus, ihuytes, and 

 araucariaj hcdoragece (kippurites), seed vessels of umbeUiferce, and a small 

 net-veined leaf of ericacece, and though the four last named natural orders 

 are all dicotyledonous, the latter is of special interest on this account from 

 the (great rarity of dicotyledonous leaves in so old a formation as the Lias. 

 The plant remains were determined by my friend Professor Buckmau* from 

 specimens in my cabinet, and I have many others since then. In the War- 

 wick museum there is a large mass of wood, with an attached branch, which 

 I found in one of the insect beds at Temple Grafton. Comparing this list 

 with the few recorded higher up, though meagre enough, it will give us a much 

 better insight into the nature of the extinct Liassic flora than any other part 

 of this series. Time will not allow me to dwell at any great length on the 

 insects, a detailed account of which, with accompanying plates, will be be 

 found in my work f on fossil ins'^cts, and since that was published, now 21 

 years ago, many important additions, as might be expected, have been made. 

 Twenty-four families and genera had then been determined from the Lias. 

 The Coleoptera and Neuroptcra are the most numerous. Small beetles are not 

 unfrequently found entire, and a few of large size; single elytra are most 

 prevalent, several being occasionally noticed on one small slab. Among these 

 may be noted the buprestidce, elateridce, carabidce, chrysomelidce, telephoridm, 

 harpalidw, carabidce, fiyrinus, and laccophilus. Among the few orthoptera 

 are gryllus Bucklandi, legs of gryllidcB, and tegmina of blattidce, and among 



* Quarterly Journal Geological Society. 1850. 



t Copies may be obtained from the author, Eowington Vicarage, near Warwick. 



