INSECT A. 



M* 



an ton* remarkable instances of extensive distribution of species. 

 Thai ririn I Ww (a common Brituh butterfly) U found in every 

 put of the world. tad Vtmmu Atalm*t* ranges over all Europe, part 

 of An* and Africa. and to North America. In the remaining tribes 

 fee typical f-sera an almost always cosmopolitan, whiUt other* have 



The f>ijiafT and Zyytxida are in gnat part European; the 

 CsXsrfsta moatlj tropical 



Among the Moth*, the PkaUniJa an chiefly European, and the 

 epedes an usually widely distributed. This appears to be the cue 

 also with the otlMr families of Nocturnal Lepidoptrra. probably rather 

 la nonsennsnns of our imperfect knowledge of exotic forms, than 

 beoaoee H really 10, for we find type* and species in distant regions 

 wherever thn have bceo eren casually explored, as in the instance of 

 Asiatic RuMsa, when the researches of Eversmiuin among these insects 

 hare brought many new forms to light 



Difltrm. One half of the described species of two-winged flies (about 

 eight Ib"^**^) belong to Europe. This disproportion arises from 

 oar comparative ignorance of the exotic forms. The small group of 

 Omtri.enyrirfsT. pmrasiUs on quadrupeds and birds, has ropreeenU- 

 UT* of all its genera in Europe, the few remaining species being 

 natives of eastern Asia, Western Africa, Australia, or Brazil The 

 fli<* forming the family of ttutcida include a great number of genera, 

 both European and exotic, the former being most prolific in species, 

 some of which hare wide ranges. The Syrpkida an in the same 

 category. The genus Ckrytopt, equally developed in Europe and 

 America, and represented in a less degree in Africa and Asia, does not 

 appear in Australia nor in the island, of the Pacific. Tabmtu is more 

 widely distributed. Ommalitu, a genus of Aiilida, has its member* 

 in all parU of the world. A gnat many genera an peculiar to 

 South America, and several to Africa, hot, woody, and moist regions 

 favouring their diffusion. Tipula, presenting numerous and varied 

 forme in most parts of the world, is excluded from Australia and the 

 Pacific, which region seems to be the lesst prolific in Viptera. The 

 species of Onata, Cuter, an very generally distributed. 



Hrmtftera.Ot the two great divisions of this order, the Homoptera 

 and the Utttroptera, the first is the smallest and also the most 

 tropical. The distribution of the insects comprising them depends 

 mainly on the Fauna and Flora of the countries they inhabit. Thus 

 each species of Cocoa apku has a range correspondent to that of the 

 plant upon which it feeds ; and of the Cortrida and Lyyaida with 

 the presence of their favourite animal food. Among the most interest- 

 ing of the families of IfemipUra an the Cicadeida, of which the 

 genus Tniioonta includes 200 species, centred in America, but having 

 members also in the Old World ; the FulgoruUr, or Lantern-Flies, very 

 generally distributed through warm climates ; SnteUcridas, remarkable 

 for brilliancy, an mostly equatorial ; and Cimex, of which the only 

 n bed-b 



true spectre is the common bed-bug, a pest spread over all Europe. 

 Of the Aquatic iftmiftera, Qtrrii and Nepa an cosmopolitan ; Pelogata 

 and the Kotauctida, mostly European 

 American ; and Halotoln, equatorial. 



OalytUiu and Uononyr, 



nsr. As yet the distribution of these minute insects ha* 

 been scarcely attended to. The species of Lrpima range from Europe 

 to China, Ptdwra and Sstjmlivni an European ; a single species of 

 the last named genus occurs in North America. 



Anoftmra. These disagreeable parasites have lately been honoured 

 by the attention of some excellent naturalists, especially Denny and 

 U wilt Their distribution corresponds with that of the animals upon 

 which they an found. Of the equally annoying order Apkaniptera 

 three-fourths of the known species are European. The Common Flea 

 is a cosmopolite, and the Chiyo is confined to South America. 



Pouil fntecti. 



Until within a few years the occurrence of insects in a fossil state 

 could only be substantiated by reference to a small number of locali- 

 ties, situated (as at Aix in Provcnc ) among lacustrine tertiary strata, 

 or (as at Stooesfield in Oxfordshire, and Solenhofen in Franconia] 

 among marine Oolitic beds ; but Mr. Prestwich has added traces o! 

 CWeopfera from the Coal Formation of Coalbrook Dale, and 

 Mr. Strickland parts of NeMnpttra from the Lias of Warwickshire 

 I*. Buck land obtain* A'eunptera from the Oolite of Stonesfield, ant 

 Mr. Brodie portions of insects belonging to various natural orders 

 from the Lias of Homersetahire, Gloucestershire, and in the Wealden 

 depoaHs of the Vale of Wardour in Wilts, and the Vale of Aylesbury . 



Will the number of fossil insects, whether we estimate individuals 

 or sped**, is very small compared to the probable number of anciently 

 existing races; a circumstance quite explicable by reference to the 

 phenomena which an now taking place in nature ; for of upwards o 

 13,000 British specie* of insect* then is reason to believe that but a very 

 minute proportion is buried and preserved in lacustrine, icstuary, or 

 marine deposits now in progress. Only one elytron of a small beetle 

 was observed in a deposit of the Elepbantoidaf era in Yorkshire, and 

 one seed of some umbellate plant, along with hundreds of shells 

 which inhabited the lake. 



No doubt vast numbers of insects, wandering by caprice or drifted 

 by winds, pass from the shore and fall into the sea as we learn from 

 the first voyage of Cook, who nailed through myriads of insects, some 

 o* the wing and others in the water, even thirty leagues from land off 



the coast of South America, bat few of these escape the watchful 

 finny noes, or ever reach the bottom of the sea. 



In like manner we find land insects heaped in profusion by winds 

 on certain tracts of fresh water, and borne down the course of riven 

 by inundations ; and these cases, by the aid of particular suppositions, 

 such as evaporation or slow draining off of the water, may offer the 

 nearest analogy to the facts actually observed in the greater number of 

 insect deposits. 



The occurrence of fossil insects, especially in marine strata, is 

 therefore to be regarded as an exceptional case, and this makes the 

 circumstances brought to light concerning them remarkable and 

 difficult of interpretation. We find however from Mr. Brodie that 

 the insects lie in a certain bed or mass of thin beds in the Lias ; 

 similarly they occupy particular layers in the Oolite, the Wealden 

 deposits, and in the tertiary accumulations of Aix, Oeningen, and 

 Auvergne. In the latter region the calcareous incrustations gathering 

 ou the indusia;, or larva-cases, of Phryganida have caused the forma- 



.ion of a peculiar limestone, called Indusial Limestone. 

 In the following summary of the groups of fossil insects in Great 



iritain the most recent stratifications come first. The catalogue 



eminences with the Elephantoidal era. The authorities and localities 

 are given for each case. (Morris's ' Catalogue of Fossils ; ' Brodio's 



Fossil Insects;' Lyell, in ' GeoL Proc. ; ' Phillips, ' GeoL Yorkshire ;' 

 Strickland, in 'Mag. of Nat. HUt. ;' Buckland, in ' Bridgewater 



Treatise ;' and 'Geol. Proc.') 



1. Ossiferous Fresh-Water Deposits. (Pleistocene.) 



Elytron of a Chrytomela. Bielbecks, in Yorkshire. (Phillips.) 

 Remains of C'upra lunarit. Mundesley, Norfolk. (Lyell.) 

 Remains of Donacia. Mundealey, Norfolk. (Lyell.) 

 Remains of J/arjialut. Mundealey, Norfolk. (Lyell.) 

 Remains of Coleoptera. Southwold, Suffolk. (Alexander.) 

 No truly aquatic beetle is mentioned among these. Donacia haunts 

 aquatic plants. The others are strictly terrestrial. They must have 

 jeen drifted into the lakes in which the Planorbit, &c., lived. 



2. In the Cretaceous System, no insects have yet been found. 



3. In the Wealden Strata of the Vale of Wardour. The specimens 

 bund by Mr. Brodie and examined by Mr. Westwood were : 



Land Coleoptera, of the families Candida (?), Harpalida (?), Staphy- 

 linida (?), Buprettidcc (?), Tcnebrionida: (?), Elaterida (?), Curculio- 

 niiltt (?), Canlharidtr (?), and Jlelophorida. 



Aquatic Coleoptera, of the families llydrop h #<<&?(>) and Dyticida (?) 

 (Colymbetu). 



Orthoptera, of the genera A chela and Blotto. 



llemiptrra and llomoptcra, including land-tribes, as Cinicida:, 

 Cicada, Cercopit (larva), Aphidet, &c., and the aquatic races of Velia 

 and llj/drvmetra. 



Neuroptera. In this water-hunting order occur Libellula and 

 .Kthna, Corydalii, Libdlulida, Tcrmet (?), and Leptocerida. Tritho- 

 ptero (f), Phryganida (?). 



Diptera.Simulium (>), Platyura (0, Tanypui (?), C/iironomiM (?), 

 Culcjc (I), Tipulida (1), &c. (Aquatic larva) Enjnd<e ()). 



4. In the Oolitic Strata insects occur in the laminated probably 

 littoral beds of Stonesfield and some other localities in Gloucestershire 

 and near Bath. Dr. Buckland has described several species in the 

 'Geological Proceeding*' and in his 'liridgewater Treatise on Geology,' 

 and Mr. Brodie has added others. The remains are chiefly elytra of 

 Coleoplera and wings of Neuroptera, The following is abstracted 

 from Mr. Brodie's list : 



Coleoptera, of the families Prionida, J3uprettidce, PimelUda (?), 

 CHrytomelidte (?), and CoceineUidie. 

 Neuroptera. Uemerobioidei yiyanteut. (Buckland.) 



5. In the Upper Lias : at Dumbleton and Churchdown. (Brodie.) 

 In the Lower Lias : above the bone-bend of Aust Cliff, Waiulodo 



Cliff, &c., on the Severn ; Coombe Hill, Cracombe ; Hasfield, Corse- 

 wood Hill, &c., in Gloucestershire. (Brodie.) 



Mr. Westwood baa examined 300 specimens of insects from the 

 Lias beds. 



Coleoptera, of the families Buprettidre (!), Elateridir, Curculio- 

 nidoe or Chrytomdida, Carabida, Telephorida, Melolontkidir, &c. ; 

 a species of Uyrinui (?). 



Oi-thoptera, including Gryllidas and Blatlida. 



llemiptera and Uomoptera. Cicada (\), Cimicida (?). 



Neuroptera. These are the best-determined of the fossil groups, 

 owing to the structure of the wings being clear and characteristic: 



Libellula Brodiiei (Brodie), is found in Upper Lias, at Dumbleton, 

 Gloucestershire. 



L. llopcei (Brodie). Strensham, Worcestershire. 



Agriun Buckmanni (Brodie), in Upper Liaa at Dumbleton. 



jBthna liauina (Strickland). Bidford, Warwickshire. 



Orthophlebia communii (Westwood). 

 Strensham, Cracombe, Bidford, 



I/emerobiiu (!) Iliggintii (Brodie). 



Chauliodct. Hasfield, Strensham, Bidford. 



Ephemera. Strensham. 



Waiulode, Forthampton, 



AtliiH (!) iynolui (Brodie). Forthampton. 



