109 



indeed, if we except some doubtful remains in the red sandstonft 

 of the Connecticut Valley, the first distinctively American 

 Coleopfem from any formation. Two beetles have been figured 

 by Heer from the Miocene of Northern Greenland, and these are 

 all that have yet been described from the Xew AVorld." 



These valuable contributions to our knowledge of the fossil 

 insects of the American Tertiaries were alluded to by Professor 

 Westwood in his anniversary address to the Entomological 

 Society of London on the 7th February last, who also stated that 

 Mr. Scudder had published " the descriptions of several fossil 

 species of Thripsidoi from the North American Tertiaries, 

 including two new genera, Litliadothrips and Faleothrips. 



Mr. Scudder has very recently described several species of 

 insects obtained by Mr. G. M. Dawson from tertiary beds at 

 Quesnel, British Columbia. In addition to fragmentary indeter- 

 minate remains, there are some 24 species distributed among the 

 undermentioned orders, as follows : — 



24 



Amber. 



Before closing this paper I must say a few words about 

 amber and the insects which have been detected in it. 



Nowhere have fossil insects been found in greater numbers 

 or in a more beautiful state of preservation than in this " resinous 

 and bitumenous substance." By most geologists amber is con- 

 sidered as antediluvian, but its origin has been the subject of 

 much dispute. Some ancient Avriters attributed it to ants, and some 

 considered it to be of mineral origin. It is now considered by all 

 authorities to be of vegetable origin, and to have been formed 

 from the resin which distilled from certain species of fir trees of 

 the Tertiary epoch, whose fossilized trunks are said to form the 

 lignite in which it is frequently obtained. Dr. Berendt and 



