81 



hot liquids, but tea in excess was very prejudicial. Besides the 

 mistake — not a shght one — of taking too much fluid into the 

 -^j-stem, strong tea, often taken, stimulated the brain to unhealthy- 

 action, caused want of sleep, or a sleep more active with dreams 

 than wakefulness itself. He would engage, by the administra- 

 tion of essence of tea, to render the bravest man too nervous 

 to sit up at night alone. This, however, was the abuse, not the 

 use, of tea In wholesome moderation, it cheered the sorrowful, 

 refreshed the tired, and soothed the afflicted. Our warmest 

 aftections, our hajipiest thoughts, were called forth at the tea 

 table, and, with their permission, he would himself desist from 

 talking, and refresh himself with a cup of tea. 



March 8th, 1877. 

 ORDINARY MEETING.— MR. HERBERT GOSS, F.L.S., 

 ON "THE INSECT FAUNA OF THE RECENT AND 

 TERTIARY PERIODS, AND THE BRITISH AND 

 FOREIGN FORMATIONS OF THOSE PERIODS 

 IN AVHICH INSECT REMAINS HAVE BEEN 

 DETECTED " :— 



So little has been written in this country on the subject of 

 Fossil Entomology that I presume that some contributions to our 

 knowledge of it may not be unacceptable. 



In this paper I shall endeavour to bring the results of recent 

 investigations and researches under the notice of this Society, in 

 the hope that they may have the eSect of directing increased 

 iittention to an undoubtedly interesting and important branch of 

 Palaeontology, which, until a comparatively recent period, had 

 received but little notice on the' Continents of Europe or America, 

 and still less in this country. / 



There can be little doubt of the importance of an 

 acquaintance with the insect fauna of former times, for when we 

 consider that insects are inhabitants not only of the air and the 



