400 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 6, 



with which he is acquainted, than, from the fragmentary remains of 

 a geological deposit, to pronounce definitely upon the species to which 

 those fragments may have belonged. 



Note on the Remains of Coleoptera from the Peat of Lexden 

 Brick-pit. By T. V. Wollaston, Esq., H.A., F.L.S. 



Although each specimen of peat is one mass, apparently, of or- 

 ganic matter, I have been unable to detect much of an entomological 

 kind, except elytra. In one specimen*, No. 4, there is part of a 

 prothorax, and the scutellum is traceable ; but the insect is much 

 covered, and I cannot be sure that its margins are sufficiently flat- 

 tened for it to be regarded as a Cassida. Also in another case, 

 No. 5 (perhaps the most interesting and significant of the whole), a 

 prothorax of such an unmistakeable nature is exposed, that I feel 

 almost sure it can be nothing but the heteromerous genus Cossyphus. 



The enclosed memorandum will show you that I am satisfied that 

 there are certainly eleven well-defined species, — probably many 

 more ; but the fragments of the rest are too small and unsatisfactory 

 to dogmatize upon. I can discern no limbs, though the other por- 

 tions come out very clean and decipherable by brushing them over 

 with benzine collas t- 



But how to generalize satisfactorily from such fragments I cannot 

 say ; for elytra are the most unsatisfactory parts of Insects for deter- 

 mining their affinities. A few points perhaps may be ventured upon. 



Imprimis, with the exception of two species, Nos. 6 and 7, both 

 apparently scarce, and which may be Carabideous (though I will not 

 be positive of this), all the remainder seem to be Phytophagous ; and 

 as one or two of these, for instance No. 3, seem to have been ex- 

 tremely abundant, this fact is the more significant. The CJirysome-- 

 lidce, Curculionidce, and Cassididce, I suspect, embrace the pre- 

 vailing forms. Bright metallic tints seem to have been the prevail- 

 ing ones, such as one finds in many of the marsh-insects of our own 

 times; and there is no evidence of anything very extraordinary 

 either in size or structure % ', though I do not think that any, unless 

 it be one or two, could be referred to actual species now existing in 

 England. If any of the species had been fossorial, I imagine that 

 their strongly developed corneous anterior legs, which are often 

 wide and externally dentate, could not fail to have been preserved. 



Description of the Fragments of Coleoptera. 



1. A small, short, and rounded elytron, with a strong outer rim, 

 uneven, and almost without sculpture, though coarsely coriaceous 

 under a high power : perhaps a Cassida, or more probably a muti- 

 lated Coccinella. 



2. A larger and extremely wrinkled elytron, most densely and 



* The specimens are in the Museum of the Geological Society. 



f The same difficulty in identifying limbs occurs among the fossil Insects of 

 the Purbeck beds.— O. F. 



X I have reason to think, from the report of the intelligent manager of the pit 

 Mr. Steward, that much larger Insects occur than any that I have seen. — O. F. 



