44-0 Mr. Claude Morley's Description of 



evident which families are to be regarded as of the oldest 

 and most recent creation or development, unless we adopt 

 the (to me inconsequent) theory that those of few species 

 and aberrant conformation be such, in which case the 



Bournemoutli some (apparently undescribed) Hymenoptera remains 

 were found in the seventies. 



It is, however, in the Upper Eocene — in the days when mammals 

 first began to become the dominant animals, though long before 

 man's creation — that we find fossils in any numbers. A collection 

 of thirty-five wings was discovered at Gurnard Bay in the Isle of 

 Wight, and of these Frederick Smith (Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond., Dec. 

 19, 1877) referred " the great majority" to the recent genera Mt/nm'ca 

 and Formica. From strata of the same period near Aix, in Provence, 

 eleven genera of H\imenoptera^ representing such diverse families as 

 the Tenthredinidae, Ichncnmonidaei CJialcididae, Formicidae, and 

 Vespidae were taken in 1829. 



The Lower Miocene has produced only a single species of Vesjyldae 

 from Switzerland, with Ap\dae and Formicidae from Rhenish 

 Prussia. Hymenoptera began to take their rank as the most prolific 

 Order in the Middle Miocene, whence, in the marls of Croatia, eighty- 

 five species have been described by Heer, of which number fifty- 

 seven appertain to the Formicidae, twenty-two to the Ichneumonidae 

 (always, doubtless, sensn latissim,o), and the remainder to the Ve- 

 spidae., Apidae, and Sphegidae. The lacustrine Upper Miocene of 

 Oeningen also has furnished eighty species (though this time against 

 508 beetles and 133 Hemiptera\ with the "f!;reat majority" resting 

 among the Ichneumonidae, Formicidae and Apidae. From the 

 Tertiary strata of North America, Scudder has described Ichneu- 

 monidae, Ghalcididae, Formicidae and Myrmicidae ; and Heer, from 

 the fragmentary Spitzbergen fossils, has brought forward two other 

 species, Hymenoj^terites deperditus and Myrniicinm boreale. 



It is disappointing to find no Hymenoptera whatever in the 

 Pleistocene beds, since these, like so many of the contemporary 

 beetles, might be expected to represent forms still familiar to us; 

 but elytra of Coleoptera will survive where the delicate tissues of 

 bees and ichneumons comminute in such unstable deposits as 

 boulder clay and brick earth. 



Thus we see that after two groups of Acnleata comes an influx of 

 most of the primary forms existing to-day and representing the 

 three great sections — Fhytophaga, Entomojyhaga and Acideata. 

 Then Aculcata, again, mingling in the superior Miocene with only 

 Ichneumonidae, though Tertiary Ghalcididae occur in America. 

 When we consider the periods of time of these formations and the 

 utter inadequacy of our knowledge, it is very plain that no reliable 

 conclusions are to be drawn therefrom ; and this is conclusively 

 illustrated by the sudden appearance of all the main groups together 

 en bloc, arguing long antecedent periods through which they had 

 " evolved" into so similar a state to their present form that their 

 families and often genera could thus be assigned. The Hymeno- 

 ptera and Lepidoptera are usually regarded as the " youngest," i. e. 

 most recently "evolved" Orders of insects ; but I believe this to be 

 simply owing to the destructible nature of their tegument. 



