Fossil Insects 



cell; the fourth and fifth spring from a common stem which is 

 emitted from the third beyond the end of the cell, as the cut shows. 



Early Stages. We know nothing of 

 these. 



This genus, in which are reckoned 

 five species, all found in the tropics of 

 the New World, is represented by but a 

 single species in our fauna, which oc- 

 curs in southwestern Texas and in Flor- 

 ida. It is very common in the West 

 Indies and Central America. 



(i) Victorina steneles, Linnaeus, 

 Plate XXIV, Fig. 6, $ (The Pearly Mal- 

 achite). 



This splendid insect is occasionally 

 found in southern Florida and the extreme 

 southern part of Texas. It is common 

 throughout tropical America. Nothing 

 has ever been written upon its early ,.. 



FIG. 113. Neuration of the 

 Stages. genus Victorina. 



FOSSIL INSECTS 



Investigations within comparatively recent times have led to 

 the discovery of a host of fossil insects. A few localities in 

 Europe and in North America are rich in such remains, and the 

 number of species that have been described amounts to several 

 thousands. Strangely enough, some of these fossil insects are 

 very closely allied in form to species that are living at the present 

 time, showing the extreme antiquity of many of our genera. One 

 of the comparatively recent discoveries has been the fossil remains 

 of a butterfly which Dr. Scudder, who has described it, declares 

 to be very near to the African Libythea labdaca, which differs in 

 certain minor anatomical respects from the American Libytheas 

 which are figured in this work; and Dr. Scudder has therefore pro- 

 posed a new generic name, Dichora, meaning " an inhabitant of 

 two lands," which he applies to the African species because 

 related to the extinct American butterfly. The strange dis- 

 coveries, which have been made by palaeontologists as to the 

 huge character of many of the mammals, birds, and reptiles 



195 



