524 



THE DEVONIAN PERIOD. 



which was from Mr Hartt's collection, Amphipeltis paradoxus* 

 (Fig. 180). 



The insects found in these heds are of the very greatest geological 

 interest, as being the oldest known representatives of that type. 

 They occur in the same shales with the plants, and are thus proved, 

 both by stratigraphical and palseontological evidence, to be older 

 than the Carboniferous period. I have, therefore, figured the 

 remains found, which are all from the collection of Mr Hartt, and 

 which have been kindly described by Mr Scudder of Boston, one 

 of our best authorities on questions of this kind. They were all 

 Neuropterous insects, and allied to the Ephemeras. It is interesting, 

 however, to observe that, like many other ancient animals, they 

 show a remarkable union of characters now found in distinct orders 

 of insects, or constitute synthetic types, as they have been named. 

 Nothing of this kind is more curious than the apparent existence of 

 a stridulating or musical apparatus like that of the cricket, in an 

 insect otherwise allied to the Neuroptera. This structure also, if 

 rightly interpreted by Mr Scudder, introduces us to the sounds of 

 the Devonian woods, bringing before our imagination the trill and 

 hum of insect life that enlivened the solitudes of these strange old 

 forests. 



Mr Scudder has kindly furnished descriptions of these insects 

 as follows : — 



Fig. 181. — Platejihemera antiqua, Scudder. 



" The direction of the principal nervures in this insect convinces 

 me that it belongs to the Ephemerina^ though I have never seen 

 in living Ephemerina so much reticulation in the anal area as 

 exists here — so, too, the mode in which the intercalary nervules 

 arise is somewhat peculiar. It is a gigantic species, for it must 

 have measured five inches in expanse of wings — the fragment is a 

 portion of an upper wing." 



" At first sight the neuration of the wings seems to agree suffi- 

 ciently with the Sialina to warrant our placing it in that family 

 * Journal of Geological Society, February 1863. 



