386 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



with the Piqja vetusta. I was at first disposed to regard it as the 

 larva of a coleopterous insect ; but a careful microscopic examination 

 of the specimens convinced me that it is a chiloguathous Myriapod, 

 allied to Iidics. It may be described as follows (Fig. 151) ; — 



Body crustaceous, elongate, articulate ; when recent, cylindrical, or 

 nearly so, rolling spirally. Feet small, numerous ; segments 30 or 

 more ; anterior segments smooth, posterior with transverse wrinkles, 

 giving a furrowed appearance. In some specimens traces of a series of 

 lateral pores or stigmata. Labrum (?) quadrilateral, divided by notches 

 or joints into three portions. Mandibles two-jointed, last joint ovate 

 and pointed. Eyes, ten or more on each side. 



This animal, the oldest gally-worm known at the time of its dis- 

 covery, must, like its modern congeners, have haunted the decaying 

 tiTinks of swamps, and thus became entombed in the hollow Sigillaria 

 in which it was found. Since its discovery, animals of similar type 

 have been recognised in the Coal formations both of Great Britain and 

 of the United States. 



Haploplilehmm Barnesii^ Scudder. 



The existence of insects in the Carboniferous period has long been 

 known. The Coal formations of England and of Westphalia afforded 

 the earliest specimens ; and, more recently, some interesting species 

 have been found in the Western "States.* They belong to the order 

 of the Neuroptera (shad-flies, etc.), the Orthoptera (grasshoppers, 

 crickets, etc.), and Coleoptei^a (beetles, etc.) 



In the Coal-field of Nova Scotia, notwithstanding its great richness 

 in fossil remains of plants, insects had not occurred up to last year, 

 except in a single instance — the head and some other fragments of a 

 large insect, probably neuropterous, found by me in the coprolite or 

 fossil excrement of a reptile enclosed in the trunk of an erect Sigillaria 

 at the Joggins, along with other animal remains. This specimen was 

 interesting chiefly as proving that the small reptiles of the Coal period 

 were insectivorous, and it was noticed in this connexion in my " Air- 

 breathers of the Coal period." Last year, however, Mr James Barnes, 

 of Halifax, was so fortunate as to find the beautiful wing represented 

 in Fig 152, in a bed of shale at Little Glace Bay, Cape Breton. The 

 engraving is taken from a photograph kindly sent to me by Rev. D. 

 Iloneyman, F.G.S. It will be observed that, in consequence probably 

 of the mutual attraction of loose objects floating about in water, a 

 fragment of a frond of a fern, Alethopteris lonchitica, lies partly over 

 the wing, obscuring its outline, but bearing testimony to its carbon- 

 * See Lyell's " Elements," and Dana's " JVranual" for references. 



