388 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 10, 



it may indeed possibly represent a spotted elytron, with a fragment 

 of a wing ; but I cannot regard it as such with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. Fig. 6 seems to be the short coriaceous upper wing, or 

 wing-cover, of some Cercopideous insect among the Homoptera. 

 Figs. 5 & 7 may also be portions of the wing-cover and vdng of a 

 Grasshopper. But all these (figs. 4, .5, 6, 7) have somewhat of a 

 vegetable character. 



PI. XIV. fig. 8. This is the most interesting specimen of all the 

 insect-remains yet discovered amongst the Lower Purbeck series. It 

 is, in fact, the wing of a gigantic Ant, which, in its perfect state, 

 must have measured at least 2 inches across the expanded wings ; 

 and it is most nearly allied to some of the exotic forms of which 

 Myrmica is the type in our temperate regions. 



The discovery of such an insect is of the highest importance in 

 respect to the question of the geographical range of the insects im- 

 bedded in the Lower Purbeck series. 



The vping of a second species of Ant (PI. XVIII. fig. 21), closely 

 allied to the foregoing, but differing from it generically, occurs in 

 the Rev. Mr. Brodie's collection, and will be subsequently noticed. 



Mr. W. R. Brodie has also sent me a slight sketch of an insect 

 with four wings of equal size, which he found in the stratum marked 

 No. 116 in the hst in Mr. Austen's ' Guide.' This is about the size, 

 and has somewhat the appearance, of the common Panorpa. It is 

 now, I believe, in the Museum at Cambridge. 



XI. Fossil Insects from the Lower Purbecks of Durdle- 

 STONE Bay*. PI. XV. fig. 3 ; PL XVI. figs. 1, 2, 4-33, 36-38 ; 

 PI. XVIII. figs. 1, 3-8, 10-13, 15-43. 



By far the largest collection of insect-remains from the Lower 

 Purbecks is that formed by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, who has placed 

 in my hands his entire series, consisting of 350 small slabs of stone, 

 of various sizes. Upon many of these only a single fragment of an 

 insect occurs ; but upon a considerable number the remains are very 

 numerous, the fragments being crowded together, and often lying 

 upon one another. Of this condition a slight idea may be obtained 

 from PI. XV. fig. 14, and PI. XVI. fig. 3. 



The representation of the more interesting of these fossil remains 

 is given in PI. XV. fig. 3, PI. XVI. figs. 1, 2, 4-33, 36-38, and 

 PI. XVIII. figs. 1, 3-8, 10-13, 15-43. 



With the exception of the Dragon-flies, of which there are as 

 many as thirty-four fragments of single wings (from which, however, 

 it is impossible to affirm either a moderate or tropical climate and 

 geographical range), and of the large Ant wing, PI. XVIII. fig. 21, 

 it is worthy of remark, that the whole of these remains, not fewer in 

 number than 700 or 800, are those of minute insects not more than 

 a fourth or a third of an inch in length. 



A few of the more remarkable elytra, which I have selected for 

 illustration, belong to Beetles half an inch long or thereabouts ; and 

 * Collected by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, F.G.S. 



