THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, 



NEW SERIES. DECADE III. VOL. I. 



No. VIII.— AITGITST, 1884. 



OI^IC3-II;T.A.Tj JLI^TIOXjES. 



I. — On the Wiistg of a Nettkoptekous Insect pkom the Cretaceous 

 • Limestone of Flinders Hiver, North Queensland, Australia. 

 By Henry "Woodward, LL.D., F.E.S., etc. 

 (PLATE XI. Fig. 1.) 



I AM indebted to E. L. Jack, Esq., F.G.S., the Government Geolo- 

 gist of North Queensland, for permission to examine the remains 

 of a Neuropterous wing (figured on Plate XI. Fig. 1), and which 

 forms one of a collection of Cretaceous fossils transmitted by him to 

 my colleague Mr. Kobert Etheridge, jun., for description. 



The specimen is imbedded in a dark chocolate-coloured limestone 

 of Cretaceous age, associated with a small bivalve, Aucella Hughendensis, 

 Eth., sp., from seven miles above Marathon Station on the Flinders 

 River. This is, I believe, the first instance recorded of the occurrence 

 of a Neuropterous Insect in a fossil state in Australia,' and, as will 

 be seen in the sequel, it presents a problem of extreme interest for 

 our consideration. The portion of a wing preserved is 25 milli- 

 metres in length, and nearly 15 mm. in depth; when perfect, it may 

 have been 45 mm. in length. 



It was evidently the proximal half of the posterior wing of a 

 Libelluloid insect, and exhibits the " costal nervure " forming the 

 anterior border of the wing, followed in parallel order by the 

 "sub-costal," the " median," the " sub-median," and "post-costal" 

 nervures : the three first-named nervures pass along the anterior 

 border until they reach the " node "or " cubital point " ; after passing 

 which, only the two anterior ones are continuous to the extremity of 

 the wing, and support the " pterostigma." (This distal portion of 

 the wing is unfortunately wanting.) The transverse "ante-cubital" 

 nervures can also be noticed which bind together the three most 

 anterior costal nervures. 



Between the median and sub-median nervures is placed a short 

 transverse one, called the "arc" : from it is given off a pair of main 

 nervures, the "sectors," which run in a nearly parallel course, 

 curving downwards, to terminate in the posterior border of the wing, 

 near the broken distal extremity. 



The sub-median and post-costal nervures are short, and end in a 

 transverse vein, which, with another, inclose a somewhat transversely 

 elongated interior space, known as the " triangle." From this triangle 

 another pair of main nervures ("sectors") are given off, which, like 



^ Several small Coleoptera were figured by the late Mr. Chas. Moore, F.G.S., in 

 the Q.J.G.S. 1870, vol. xxvi. pi. xviii pp. 261-263, from Sydney Flat, N. S. Wales. 



decade III. — VOL. I. NO. VIII. 22 



