216 Scudder — Fossil Insects of North America. 



V. — The Fossil Insects of North America. 



By Samuel II. Scudder, Curator of the Museum of the Boston Society of Natural 



History, U.S. 



(Concluded from the April Number, p. 177.) 



Some years ago, Dr. Dawson, who lias himself been very succesa- 

 ful in the discovery of insect-remains, described and figured ^ frag- 

 ments of a species of myriapod under the name of Xylohius sigillaria. 

 The remains, many of which occurred in coprolites of reptiles, were ob- 

 tained at the Joggins, in upright Sigillaria trees, between coal-groups 

 fourteen and fifteen of division four in Dr. Dawson's detailed section 

 of the Nova Scotia formations.'^ As his descriptions of the animal 

 and its mode of occurrence^ are easily accessible to English geologists, 

 it is needless to refer to them more explicitly. The coprolites, how- 

 ever, yielded some true insect remains ; * these, as well as fragments 

 of insects, not coprolitic,^ were kindly sent me for examination by 

 Dr. Dawson. They consist almost entirely of crushed and indeter- 

 minate masses of chitinous matter ; the few detached and connected 

 abdominal segments which can be distinguished invariably show that 

 the abdomen was slender and the insect of medium size. Beyond 

 this, little can be said of them. I noticed, however, two remains of 

 eyes ; one crushed, distorted, and ill-defined, the other, the beautiful 

 fragment mentioned by Dr. Dawson,'^ whose original size it is diffi- 

 cult to determine. The facets are large and regularly disposed, 

 somewhat resembling the Perlidce ; but the proportion of the eye to 

 the body varies so much in insects that it is impossible to judge of 

 the size of the animal to which this fragment belonged. A few 

 articulations of an antenna are seen on one of the stones ; they pro- 

 bably belonged to a very small or very young cockroach. All the 

 remains of insects appear to be neuropterous or orthopterous. I 

 believe I have distinguished five different kinds. There were also 

 two leeches belonging to distinct genera. 



Dr. Dawson states that he has seen a fossil fern (Cyclopteris 

 \_Aneim{tes^ acadica) from the Coal measures of Nova Scotia which 

 bore tracks like those made by mining insects.''' 



Eemains of insects, much more completely preserved than those 

 which I have mentioned, have been found in the Carboniferous rocks 

 of Morris, Illinos. The beds from which the fossils are derived lie 

 near the base of the Illinois Coal-measures. In the locality at 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond,, vol. xvi. pp. 271-3; vol. xviii. p. 6; Can. Nat. 

 vol. viii. pp. 280, 283, pi. vi. figs. 57-61 ; Air-breathers of the Coal Period, pp. 63, 

 64, 67, pi. vi., figs. 57-61, Svo., Montreal, 1863 ; Acadian Geology, Suppl., p. 36, 

 fig. 45, IBmo., Edinburgh, 1855-60. 



2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. xxii. p. 116. 



3 Quart. Journ. Geol Soc. Lond., vol. ix. pp. 58-63 ; vol. xvi. pp. 269-70 ; Acadian 

 Geology, p. 161, Suppl. p. 33. 



* See also Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. xviii. p, 6. 



6 From Coal Groups 7 and 9 of div. 4 : Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. xxii. 

 pp. 113, 114. 



6 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lend., vol. xviii. p. 6 ; Can. Nat. vol. viii. p. 276, pi. 

 vi. fig. 56 ; Air-breathers of the Coal Period, p. 59, pi. vi. fig. 56. 



' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. xviii. p. 5. 



