100 



The entire absence of any Hemiptera from tliis list is as 

 remarkable as the extraordinary number of the Diptera. 



M. Oustalet observes that this last feature strikes us equally 

 in the fauna of Eadaboj, in that of Aix in Provence, and especially 

 in that of the lignites of the Rhine, -where the two genera Bibio 

 and Protomyia constitute a large majority. 



The Ants which are represented at Eadoboj by fifty-seven 

 species (of one of which alone five hundred specimens have been 

 discovered) are entirely absent from Corent. The larva? of 

 Libellula are also very rare there, whilst they form entire slabs in 

 the Q]]ningen deposits. 



Next to the Diptera the Coleoptera are the best represented. 



The fossil fauna of Auvergne which have been studied by 

 M.M. Pomel Aymard, Alphonse Milne Edwards, and others, com- 

 prises both European and South American forms. The Reptiles 

 in particular are said to have a more decided affinity than animals 

 of the other classes with South American species of the present day. 



The insects, according to M. Oustalet, form no exception to 

 this rule, and include like the other classes of the fossil fauna of 

 Auvergne both indigenous and exotic types. Although, perhaps, 

 the majority of the species are referable to existing European 

 genera, there are many others whose nearest living allies are now 

 comprised in the fauna of Brazil. 



There seems satisfactory evidence for believing that tlie land 

 and fresh-water conditions of Auvergne during the Miocene 

 period were similar to those existing in Brazil at the present day, 

 and this evidence is materially strengthened by the fact that 

 the fossil flora and fauna of the first named place are very similar 

 to those now existing in the latter. 



M. [Oustalet remarks that at Corent, as at Aix and 

 CEningen, the Entomological fauna is in character partly American 

 and partly Mediterranean. From what has been said it may be 

 fairly assumed this part of France enjoyed, at the commencement 

 of the Miocene or Middle Tertiary period, a climate only slightly 

 colder than that of Brazil at the present day. 



