486 Herr R. Klcbs on the Fauna of Amber. 



It is very difficult to give an opinion on tiie affinities of 

 this strange little organism, except that it is a Vertebrate 

 and probably a fish. It is certainly not a Placoderm, its 

 resemblance to a supposed '' baby Coccosteus^' being entirely 

 deceptive. The appearance of the head does remind us in a 

 strange way of the primitive skull of Myxine, a resemblance 

 which is rendered still more suggestive by the apparent com- 

 plete absence of lower jaw or of limbs or limb-girdles. But 

 a i\Iyxinoid with ossified skeleton including differentiated 

 vertebral centra is, it must be owned, a rather startling idea! 

 But as it requires a name in the meanwhile, I caimot think 

 of any one more appropriate than Palceospondylus Gunnii. 



LX. — The Fauna of Amber. By Herr RiCHARD 

 Klebs, of Konigsberg *. 



The above is the title of a paper read before the Entomo- 

 logical Section of the 'Versamralung deutscher Xaturforscher 

 und Aertzte,' at Heidelberg, on Sept. 21, 1889. With a 

 view to obtaining a large amount of material thoroughly 

 suitable for working, Herr Klebs had communicated with 

 ]\Iessrs. Stantien and Becker, of Konigsberg, who enjoy the 

 monopoly of the amber trade, and who placed their entire stock 

 at his disposal. The result has been that during the last twelve 

 years several hundred thousand pieces containing specimens 

 have passed through his hands, and of these he has arranged 

 and catalogued about twenty-five thousand of the best-pre- 

 served and most valuable. In addition to this Herr Klebs 

 has arranged and catalogued other collections, including that 

 formed by Kiinow, which comprises twelve thousand speci- 

 mens, and has recently been purchased by the Prussian 

 government. 



Thirty years ago a })apcr was read by Low before the same 

 society on the Dipterous fauna of amber. Unfortunately it 

 was but a passing glimpse which Low was able to give of 

 the Tertiary forms of this order of insects, which attained so 

 high a degree of development daring that period ; and Low 

 died before completing his work. But what little he 

 then communicated excited general interest. Herr Klebs 

 instances the genera Electra and Chrysothemis, which are 



• Condensed from the ' Biologisches Centralblatt,' IW. .x. uos. 13 and 

 14, pp. 444-448, August 16, 1890. 



