68 PAPEKS, ETC. 



but the descriiJtion of CoUins in his " Ode to Evening/' 

 could not be correctly applied to them. He says ; 



" Now air is hushed, save 

 Where the beetle winds 

 His small but sullen hörn ; 

 As oft he rises 'midst the twilight path, 

 Against the pilgrim, borne iu heedless hum ;" 



for these creatures were not seen by niortal eye, nor was 

 their hum music to mortal ear. Upwards of 1000 insects 

 have been obtained by me in this bed, belonging to various 

 Orders. So perfect are they in some instances that the 

 nervurea of the wings are to be distinctiy seen, and some of 

 the Coleopterous insects seem to be staring at you, their 

 eyes being at times well defined in the stone. They are 

 found in all stages, from the Caterpillar, the larva, to the 

 perfect insect. Contemporaneously with my obtaining these 

 insects, the Rev. Peter Brodie had been employed in the 

 same work in Gloucestershire, which he has recorded in 

 his book on the "Insects of the Secondary Formations ;" but 

 those described by him are principally from the Lower Lias, 

 and the Wealden, although he notices their presence in the 

 bed from which I have obtained my series. 



Of the Order Crustacea, animals having hard crusts or 

 coverings, there are remains of various families ; but in a 

 perfect state they are not numerous. They are represented 

 by the lobster, the prawn, and the shrimp. In the beds of 

 clay of the Upper Lias the loose claws of crustaceans are 

 very frequent. 



All the specimens I have hitherto mentioned have been 

 found in the thin bed of YeUow Limestone, which may well 

 be designated tlie saurian, fifh, and insect bed. It was no 

 doubt deposited either in an estuary, or near a coast, and 



