GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANADIAN PALAEONTOLOGY. 



VOLXJIVCE II. 



OAINADIA^ FOSSIL INSECTS. 



By Samuel H. Scudder. 

 1. Tlie Tertiary Hemiptera of BritUh Columhia. 



The tertiary Hemiptera so far found in British Columbia are all due 

 to the explorations of Dr. G. M. Dawson. They have been found at 

 three different localities, — Quesnel on the Fraser, the north fork of the 

 Similkameen River, and Nine-Mile Creek flowing into Whipsaw Creek, 

 a tributary of the Similkameen ; but in Dr. Dawson's view the two 

 latter deposits undoubtedly formed different portions of a single lake, 

 so that really only two basins are concerned. Curiously, these two 

 basins afford specimens of very different character, for two family 

 groups are represented only at Quesnel, four in the Similkameen basin 

 only *. The only other known locality for fossil insects, Nicola, has 

 yielded no Hemiptera. 



Nineteen species in all have been found, and notwithstanding the 

 small number, they prove very interesting. Only two of them, a water- 

 strider and a shield bug, belong to the heteropterous division, the re- 

 mainder being homopterous, an extraordinary disproportion. So, too, 

 the families of Homoptera are very unevenly represented, the Cerco- 

 pidse with eleven species being out of all proportion to the others, — 

 the Jassidae with one, the Aphididte with two, and the Fulgoridse with 

 three species. The CercopidjB therefore give the character to the 

 fauna. 



One of the lirst things that impresses the student is the great variety 

 among these insects. In every case, at least among the Homoptera, 

 every specimen must be referred to a distinct species, and in only one 

 case can two species be referred to one genus. In the Fulgoridse each 

 of the three species belongs to a different subfamily ; and though such 

 a difference is impossible in the here more numerous but everywhere 

 less varied Cercopidae, the range of genera is very considerable. Given 

 the number of species allotted to the different families as here, one 

 could hardly devise a more extreme case than hei*e presents itself. 



* The two basins are separated by about three degrees of latitude and may prove to 

 represent somewhat different stages in the tertiary. If so, that of Quesnel is probably 

 the newer. — G. M. D. 



