12 



At the Annual Meeting of the Society^ which was held 

 at the Museum, fVanvick, on Friday, April 18th, 1873, 

 the Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., read the folloiving 

 Paper on " The Distribution and Correlation of Fossil 

 Insects, and the supposed occurrence of Lepidoptera and 

 Arachnidce in British and Foreign Strata, chiefly in the 

 Secondary rocks." 



Forty years ago, fossil Insects were so rare iu this country, 

 that scarcely any had been recorded ; since then however, 

 more careful and close research has shown the presence of 

 their remains in considerable numbers, and in a state of 

 greater or less perfection. From the delicate and fragile 

 structure of most of the anmdosa, it was to have been 

 expected that the majority when discovered, would be in a 

 very fragmentary state, which is usually the case, and hence 

 it is extremely difficult to determine them satisfactorily. 

 This remark is borne out by the large number which have 

 been discovered in the Purbecks and Lias, the formations in 

 which they are most abundant in this countiy. But they 

 have one special PalEeontological value, viz., that as they 

 are both aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic, they give some idea of 

 the land and freshwater conditions of the period, especially in 

 the Lias, where with the exception of plants, and the flying 

 reptile the Pterodactyle, and a few very rare land shells,* there 

 are no other indications of a terrestrial fauna, they are of 

 marked value and interest in this direction. Where they occur 

 ^n any considerable numbers in marine deposits, they were 

 probably carried into the sea by a rapidly flowing river, and 

 deposited not very far from the coast line, and would be of 



• Mr Judd in his valuable and important paper, lately published in the Journal 

 Geological Society, Januai-y, 1873, on the 'Secondary rocks of Scotland,' speaks of 

 the estuarine condition of the Lias there and its abundant flora, and if the disputed 

 deposits at Linksfleld are of Ehoetic or Liassic age which seems probable, and 

 whihc contain ferns and freshwater shells; insects and other terrestrial rehcs may 

 be looked for. 



