196 Dr. H. Woodward — On a New Lias Insect. 



" Although, as a rule, the remains of insects from this formation 

 are very imperfect and fragmentary, the detached wings of many 

 Neuropteroiis insects are preserved in the greatest perfection, and 

 have the nervures of the wings beautifully defined. The size of 

 the insects, judging from the remains, appears to have been usually 

 small and indicative of a temperate climate. 



" It may be observed that nearly all the fossil-insects from this 

 formation have, with the exception of a few specimens from the 

 Upper division, been obtained from the lowest^ division of the Lias, 

 or from the Khfetic series, between the Lias and the Trias. Remains 

 of insects from the Lias and Rhgetics are very numerous, but the 

 majority of them are in such a fragmentary condition that it has 

 been impossible, even for those who have devoted special attention 

 to the subject, to make out the species to which they belong. 

 About 56 species, however, have been determined, which are dis- 

 tributed amongst five orders as follows, viz. : — Coleoptera, 29 species; 

 Neuroptera, 12; Orthopfern, 7; Hemiptera, 6; Diptera? 2 (supposed). 



" No traces of Lepidoptera or Hymenoptera have been met with, 

 and the remains which have been referred to the Diptera are 

 extremely doubtful." 



For permission to describe and figui-e the very fine impression of 

 a Lias Insect, which forms the subject of Plate V. Fig. 1, I am 

 indebted to the kindness of Montagu Browne, Esq., F.G.S., Curator 

 of the Town Museum, Leicester, who obtained it from the Lower 

 Lias {Planorbis-zone), Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire, in 1889, when 

 spending his vacation there. The insect is, so far as I am aware, 

 unique of its kind as a fossil, and is preserved in almost equal clearness, 

 as an impression and counterpart, upon two very close-grained slabs 

 of Lower Lias Limestone, from which the well-known hydraulic 

 cement is so largely manufactured. The insect itself is 54 milli- 

 metres in length, the foi*e-legs extending 12 mm. beyond and in 

 front of the head, which is 6 mm. long and 8^ mm. broad. The 

 three divisions of the thorax measure 9 mm. long by 8^ in breadth. 

 The wings, which are neatly folded together, as in repose, are nearly 

 four times as long as they are wide. In addition to two fore-legs 

 already mentioned, one mandible, part of an antenna, the eyes, and 

 the two hind-legs, are more or less perfectly preserved. The wings 

 are clouded with spots of colour such as one frequently sees in 

 these transpai'ent membranous organs in many living Neuroptera ; 

 such colour-markings have also been figured by Scudder in Mega- 

 thevtomiim piistulatum from the Coal-measures of Mazon Creek, 

 Illinois, and in his Brodia priscotincta from the same horizon, 

 Tipton, Staffordshire. 



The tibia and 5-jointed tarsus of the two fore-legs can be very 

 well seen preserved on the slab ; the legs are somewhat stouter than 

 in many modern Neuroptera, and the tibia appears to have been 

 slightly serrated or spined, along the inner margin. 



1 Mr. Goss mentions that he had received from the late Mr. Charles Moore, of 

 Bath, a large collection of fossil insects from the Zipper Lias of Ilminster. This 

 collection included Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Orthoptera, etc. 



