Reports and Proceedings — The Geologists' Association. 231 



by Dr. Dohrn to have been descended from a common ancestor of 

 both those orders. 



About 12 other species from the Permian of Saxony, including 

 2 Hemiptera, and 9 Orthoptera (BlattidcB), were then enumerated. 



The Coal-measures at Wettin and Lobejiin, in Westphalia, and at 

 Saarbruck, near Treves, were then referred to ; from these Coal- 

 fields a considerable number of insects had been discovered, the 

 majority of which had been referred by Prof. Gerruar and Dr. 

 Goldenberg to the orders Orthoptera and Neuroptera, and a few to 

 an extinct order, which had been named by Dr. Goldenberg Palceo- 

 dictyoptera. A number of other insects from Loebjun, Mannebach, 

 Erbignon, Valais (Switzerland), Saarbriick, and elsewhere, which 

 had been described by Prof. Heer, Dr. Goldenberg, Dr. Dohrn, 

 Herr E. Geinitz and others, were then alluded to. One insect 

 (Blattina Helvetica), from Erbignon, was of especial interest as being, 

 according to Dr. Heer, the oldest Swiss fossil animal known. 



Amongst the most interesting of the fossil insects obtained from 

 the Belgian Coal-fields was one described by Prof. Van Beneden 

 and M. Coemans, and which had recently been referred by Dr. Gol- 

 denberg to the extinct order (Palceodictyoptera) before mentioned. 



Another specimen from the same Coal-fields had been referred by 

 Dr. Breyer and M. Preudhomme de Borre to the Lepidoptera. This 

 supposed butterfly had been recently examined by Mr. B. M'Lachlan, 

 F.R.S., who had decided that the fossil was that of a Neuropterous 

 insect belonging to the Ephemerina, and a note of his opinion to 

 this effect had been read in August, 1877, by the Baron de Selys- 

 Longchamps, before the Entomological Society of Belgium. 



The various localities in the Coal-fields of North America in 

 which insects had been found were then enumerated. 



It appeared that all the insects discovered in the American Coal- 

 measures were either Orthoptera or Neuroptera, though some three 

 or four of the latter order had lately been referred by Dr. Golden- 

 berg to the extinct order before mentioned. 



The six oldest fossil insects in the world had been obtained by 

 Mr. C. F. Hartt, in rocks of Devonian age, in the neighbourhood of 

 St. Johns, New Brunswick. They were all representatives of the 

 order Neuroptera ; though most of them were synthetic, combining 

 characteristics of two or more families or groups. 



The author stated that altogether about 113 species of fossil insects 

 obtained from Palasozoic rocks had been named and described, 5 of 

 which were from the United Kingdom, 80 from the Continent of 

 Europe, and 28 from America; and that they included 3 species 

 of Coleoptera, 3 Hemiptera, 66 Orthoptera, 27 Neuroptera, and 14 of 

 the extinct order Palceodictyoptera. These fossils were geologically 

 distributed as follows, viz. 13 from the Permian, 94 from the 

 Carboniferous, and 6 from the Devonian. 



The author then proceeded to summarize the facts which he had 

 brought under notice in this and his two preceding papers on the 

 subject. After quoting Prof. Hackel, Dr. Fritz M filler, Sir John 

 Lubbock and others, as to the supposed origin of insects, and re- 



