» Mr. T. D, A. Cockerell on Fossil Arthropods 
It is thus evident that the Brodie specimens are from the 
same source as the others. In one case a specimen (In. 
17,277) from the A’Court Smith collection proves to be the 
reverse impression of one (I. 9387) obtained from Brodie. 
The specimens labelled as from E. J. A?’Court Smith were 
purchased in 1883, but a large collection remained in 
Mr. A’Court Smith’s possession, and after his death was put 
up at auction. Very fortunately it fell into good hands, 
coming into the possession of Mr. R. W. Hooley. 
Mr. Hooley has been good enough to send his collection to 
the British Museum to be worked up with the other 
materials. It includes not only the A’Court Smith series, 
but also specimens collected by himself. 
On sorting out all these materials, it is found that the 
specimens tit for description constitute only a small minority. 
Yet the others have a certain value, as their general 
character can usually be recognised, and thus the total 
absence of a number of families and genera now common in 
Europe becomes more striking. Among the Diptera, for 
instance, Culicide, Tipulidee, Psychodidz, Mycetophilide, 
Bibionide, Stratiomyidz, and small acalyptrate Muscoids 
are largely represented. A few specimens represent Asilide, 
Bombyliidee (Systropus), Chironomide, Leptide, and Rhy- 
phidee, but numerous families which might be expected are 
absent. Itis obvious that the collections are by no means 
fully representative of the Oligocene insect fauna of Britain ; 
they represent in the maim a water-side fauna, that of a 
moist semi-aquatic lowland, with many species breeding in 
the water. The upland insects, and especially the antho- 
plilous forms, are not preserv ed. It is important to realise 
this, as otherwise it might be inferred that anthophilous 
insects were rare or absent in Oligocene times. The rather 
numerous bees from Baltic amber show that this was not 
really the case, and indeed the amber also contains a number 
of beautifully preserved flowers. 
Among the Hymenoptera preserved at Gurnet Bay, we 
find vast numbers of ants, of comparatively few species, and 
many parasitic forms, nearly all the specimens representing 
different species. There are also a few wasps of different 
families, and some cyuipids which should have fed on the 
oak and the rose. In dealing with the Ichneumonide and 
Braconida, I have rarely been able to feel quite confident of 
the generic assignments. ‘The species have an extremely 
modern and commonplace appearance, but on comparing 
them with living species, they usually differ in a number of 
details. The bees in Baltic amber are all of extinct genera, 
