l68 BRITISH CiCAD.E. 



Perliaps the first contribntioii of much value in con- 

 nection with British fossil Entomology is to be found 

 in the ' History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary 

 Eocks of England,' by the Kev. P. B. Brodie, and 

 published about 1844. Previous to this, traces of 

 insects had been found by Prof. E. Forbes, in the 

 Hastings Sands of the Isle of Wight ; and also by 

 Messrs. W. and H. Binfield, from the Khsetic of Glouces- 

 tershire. Insects also had been found in the Wealden 

 series of Punfield Bay, Swanage ; and in the Tertiaries 

 of Studland Bay. Collections of fossil insects, too, have 

 been made from the Middle and Lower Purbecks, by the 

 Kev. O.Fisher, Messrs. W. K. Brodie, C. Willcox, Capt. 

 Woodley, and specially by the Eev. P. B. Brodie. 



Prof. J. 0. Westwood, in 1854, examined most of 

 these collections, and he gave a general account of 

 these remains, with five plates, published in the ' Quart. 

 Journal of the Geol. Soc. of London,' vol. x. ; but he 

 remarks that as " there is not one insect entire, and not 

 a single leg, antenna, or any trophi, — the majority, in 

 fact, consisting only of elytra or fragments of wings, — 

 their descriptions must necessarily be very general." 



But, as to these remains, we are here more particu- 

 larly concerned with the Hemiptera-Homoptera ; and 

 I reproduce from these plates a few of the most 

 interesting examples of the Tettigidse, referring the 

 reader to the various papers on fossil insects contained 

 in vols. ix. and x. of the ' Quart. Journal of the 

 Geological Society.' 



The Kev. P. B. Brodie discovered in the Jurassic 

 Purbeck beds, amongst other organic remains, portions 

 of the wing-covers of a small Cicadellina, and also the 

 perfect wings of what apj^ears to be a Cercopis and 

 a Bijtlioscopus. They are embedded in small slabs, 

 excavated from the Pecten- and the Corbula-beds of 

 the Isle of Purbeck ; and others were taken from 

 Burdlestone Bay, Dorsetshire. As in some of these 

 small slabs a large number of elytra are collected 

 within a small space, suggestions have been made that 



