FOSSIL INSECTS OF THE BRITISH COAL MEASURES. 



Attention was afterwards diverted from the Coal Measures by the remarkable 

 discoveries of insect-remains made by Brodie in the Purbeck and Liassic rocks, 

 and by similar discoveries on the continent. 



Mr. E. W. Binney (1867, ' Proc. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Manchester/ vol. vi, p. 59) 

 exhibited a specimen which "bore some resemblance to the pupa state of a 

 coleopterous insect," and had been found in the Cinderford Dyke Pit at Bradley,' 

 near Huddersfield. 



A second specimen exhibited by Binney at the same time was referred to 

 Xt/lolrius sigillaride, Dawson. Binney added : " "We must expect great additions to 

 be made to the Carboniferous fauna, as doubtless the rich and luxurious 

 vegetation of that remote period would afford food and shelter for numerous 

 insects." 



Binney's notes on the Huddersfield specimens caused the Rev. P. B. Brodie to 

 record (1867, * Geol. Mag.,' vol. iv, pp. 285 286) that he had in his collection " a 

 wing of a gigantic Neuropterous insect in ironstone from the Derbyshire Coal 

 Measures." 



The same year Kirkby (1867, 'Geol. Mag.,' vol. iv, pp. 388390) reported the 

 finding of clearly defined insect-remains in the Durham Coal Measures. One 

 example consisted of " portions of the fore wing or tegmina of an orthopterous 

 insect nearly allied to Blatta or Cockroach," and the other " of an orthopterous 

 insect, apparently the abortive wing of a specimen related to the Pliasmidae." 

 Kirkby 's first specimen is the small but very fine wing described here under the 

 name of Phyloinylacris mantidiuides (Sternberg). The second specimen is not 

 determinable as an insect-fragment, and may prove to be a fossil fruit, referable 

 to one of the higher plants of the Coal Measures. 



From 1867 onwards the finding of fossil insects in the British Coal Measures 

 occurred at long intervals until in 1908, the date of publication of Handlirsch's 

 ' Fossilen Insekten,' the following had been recorded : 



Phylomylacris mantidioides (Groldenberg). 



olim, " allied to Blatta," Kirkby. 



ohm, " Blatiina mantidioides" 



Groldenberg. 

 Lithosialis brongniarti (Mantell). 



olim, " Gryllacris 'brongniarti," Mautell. 

 Lithomantis carbonarius, Woodward. 

 Archxoptilns ing ens, Scudder. 

 Brodia priscotincta, Scudder. 

 JEdceophasma anglica, Scudder. 

 Aphthoroblattina johnsoni (Woodward). 



olim, " Etoblattina johnsoni," Woodward. 



(Blattoidea) peachii (Woodward). 



olim, " Etoblattina peachii" Woodward. 

 Leptoblattina exilis, Woodward. 

 Lithomylacris kirkbyi, Woodward. 

 Soomylacris deanensis (Woodward). 



olim, " Etoblattina deanensis," Woodward. 

 Pseudofouquea cambrensis (Allen). 



olim, " Fouquea cambrensis," Allen. 

 Breyeria woodivardiana (Handlirsch). 



olim, " aflBnity Avith Lithomantis carlonarius," 

 Stobbs. 



olim, " Stobbsia ivoodivardiana," Handlirsch. 



The numerous discoveries of insect-remains in the Coal Measures of Commentry 

 (Allier), France, and the remarkable series made known by Handlirsch from the 



