42 Notes on the Distribution of Insects, iS/^c. 



throug-li Rupert's Land, there is one in jDarticular, the Carabus 

 Vietinffkovii, which Kirby says is synonymous with Dr. Fis- 

 cher's figure in his Russian Entomology. 



" The ■close aQcl accurate observation of nature most forcibly 

 Induces that frame of mind so beautifully described by Shakespeare, 

 in which we are disposed to find 



" Books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in everything. " 



To those who take no interest in science it would be difiicult 

 to explain the feeling with which the geologist regards a rock, a 

 Botanist a flower, or an Entomologist an insect ", it is something 

 quite peculiar, and can only be understood and appreciated by 

 those who have passed from ignorance to knowledge, and have 

 felt how immeasuraMy their enjoyment of life has been heigh- 

 tened, as they have become better able to appreciate the wonderful 

 works of God. 



The connexion between different sciences is alwa3's very inte- 

 resting, and that between Zoology, Physical Geography and 

 Geology, is no exception to the rule. Lists of species have long 

 been used as excellent tests of the age of deposits found in 

 difi'erent parts of the world, and the labours of Professor 

 Edward Forbes have made known to us that interesting 

 evidence on the Geography of ancient times may be obtained in 

 the same way from a careful examination of the lists of species. 

 In his paper on the Geological relations of the existing Fauna 

 and Flora of the British Isles, he shows that out of sixty-five 

 species of testaceous molluscs which are common to the coasts of the 

 United States and of Europe, fifty-one are known as glacial fossils, 

 of the remaining fourteen, two are pelagic wandering mollusca, 

 one Teredo Navalis is carried about in floating wood, two are 

 small species living in stony ground, near high-water mark, and 

 therefore not likely to be found fossil ; three are Chitons, which 

 fall to pieces soon after death, two are doubtful, and the other 

 four may very probably yet be found fossil. The inference which 

 Professor Forbes draws from these facts is, that " not a single 

 littoral or coast, inhabiting Mollusc has found its w^ay across the 

 Atlantic, in either direction, since that ancient time, anterior to 

 all human records, and probably long anterior to the appearance 

 of man on our earth, when an Arctic sea, inhabited by a 

 limited and uniform fauna, extended from the then western coast 

 of Siberia into the heart of North America, and southwards in 



