( Ixx ) 



undergone no change : it is true that the time at which the 

 Order first appeared is somewhat doubtful, but it is almost 

 certain that it did not exist during the Palfeozoic period.* 

 Mr. Goss is of opinion that it appeared towards the end of 

 this period, and lecords two species of Coleoptera from the 

 Carboniferous, viz. Citrctdioides ansticii, Buckland, from the 

 Ironstone of Coalbrook-dale, Shropshire, and Troxites (jermari, 

 Goldenbuig, from the Coal Measures of Saarbrlick : the latter 

 fossil, however, is an obscure object, and as Bronguiart has 

 suggested that it may be the fruit of some plant, it is clear 

 that it is, in all probability, not a beetle at all : and with 

 regard to the former Dr. Buckland appears to have described 

 two insects from Coalbrook-dale as belonging to Curctdioides, 

 under the name of C. anstichii and C. j^restioichii : as, however. 

 Dr. Woodward has decided that C. presiwichii should be referred 

 to the Arachnida, it is evident that the genus is very doubt- 

 fully Coleopterous at all. Apart from these records, five 

 remains of beetles are said to have been furnished by the 

 Silesian culm (Carboniferous), one being the elyti'on of a 

 Carabid or Tenebrionid, and borings have been found in Coal 

 Measures which are similar to those made by Scolytidas. This 

 is all the evidence that I have been able to find for the 

 existence of Coleoptera during the Palaeozoic period ; it will 

 be seen that it is vei-y fragmentary and unsatisfactory, and, in 

 the present state of our knowledge, we are not justified in 

 placing the first appearance of the order before the Mesozoic 

 period : three species only (and one larva, according to 

 8cudder) ha\e been recorded from the Triassic rocks, but in 

 the Jurassic period (Lias and Oolite) beetles are abundant, 

 and are far more numerous than the insects belonging to any 

 other order : most of the chief families now existing are 

 represented and fully differentiated, and the genera and even 

 the species in many cases are almost identical with those now 

 living : with regard to the first origin of the Coleoptera we 

 cannot, of course, speculate with any show of icason. Scudder 

 believes that the ancestors of the order were wood-boring 



* It must always be remembered tliat the liard and practically indestruc- 

 tible integument of the Coleoptera is of itself a strong proof that members of 

 the order did not exist in any rocks or strata in which they arc not found: 

 we cannot say the same of the much more delicately formed Le2)idoptera. 



