386 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 10, 



body, but also from its belonging to the Crustacean order, Isopoda, 

 which are very rare in the fossil state, and from its close relationship 

 with the species of Isopod discovered in the " Insect limestone" of 

 "Wiltshire by Mr. Brodie, and figured in his work upon the Insects 

 found in the Secondary Rocks of England, pi. 1. figs. 6-10, under the 

 name of Archceoinscus Brodiei, applied to it by M, Milne-Edwards. 



Two specimens, of one of which a cast is also preserved, were found 

 by Mr. Willcox ; and, as they are represented, in PI. XIV. fig. 12, of 

 the natural size, it will be seen that they are larger than the ordinary 

 specimens of A. Brodiei, although the individual figured in Hist. 

 Foss. Insects, pi. 1. fig. 7, is of equal size. 



The tegument of the body, which remains in a few parts of the 

 fossil, appears to have been a thin shell, somewhat like that of a 

 shrimp. Neither antennae nor legs are visible ; and I cannot detect 

 any trace of the eyes. There appears to have been an elevated ridge 

 down the middle of the body, terminating at the base of the large, 

 transversely oval, anal plate ; and several of the articulations pre- 

 ceding the latter are much shorter and less distinct than the anterior 

 segments ; the terminal plate, moreover, exhibits no traces of the 

 lateral caudal appendages, except a slight thickening and elevation of 

 the basal lateral angles. 



Insects. — Of entire insects or portions of their bodies there are but 

 very slight traces to be found in this collection. PI. XV. fig. 1 re- 

 presents a part of the articulated elongate abdomen of a small insect, 

 which seems most like a part of some Tipulideous specimen ; and 

 PI. XVn. figs. 8 & 18 represent two small abdomens, which seem 

 more like those of Hemipterous or Homopterous, than Coleopterous 

 insects. 



Of the elytra of Coleoptera there is a very extensive series, con- 

 sisting generally of single detached specimens, but occasionally of the 

 two elytra conjoined. PI. XIV. figs. 14 & 15 are pairs of elytra of 

 two small beetles, which were about i inch long. 



PI. XIV. figs. 16-21 and PI. XVII. figs. 1-6 represent single elytra 

 belonging to insects of different families. Of these the largest, 

 PI. XIV. fig. 1 7, must have been part of a beetle about 1 inch long. 

 Several of tliese are also remarkable for the very distinct manner in 

 which they are spotted and striped, especially the striato-punctate 

 forms in PI. XIV. fig. 19 and PI. XVII. figs. 3 & 5 ; the first and 

 last of which seem to have belonged to the Bujn-estidce, and the 

 other to the Harpalidce. 



I will not, however, pretend to assign all these elytra to their fa- 

 milies ; the forms and markings vary so infinitely in every Coleopterous 

 family of any extent (many of the families containing several thousand 

 distinct species in each), that the attempt would be very hazardous. 



PI. XVII. fig. 1, as well as fig. 7, and possibly fig. 9, seem to me 

 to have rather doubtful claims to be considered as insect remains. 

 It is possible that they may be of vegetable origin ; but the first 

 looks like an elytron, the irregularity of the surface of which may 

 have been caused by abrasion ; and fig. 9 may be a strongly granu- 

 lated or tuberculated elytron, of which a portion of the inner margin 



