HEER ON THE HISTORY OF INSECTS. 73 



tiary forests, locally at least, must have swarmed with Ants, the other 

 families of the Hymenoptera, on the contrary, very sparingly occurred. 

 Of the fossorial Wasps I have as yet met with two species only, and of 

 these one exhibits a remarkably gigantic form. Of the IchneiimonidcBy 

 which at present form the majority of the Hymenopteray I am ac- 

 quainted with only nine species. This is analogous to the scanty 

 development of the Lepidoptera. Very many Ichneumon-flies are 

 connected with this order of insects, since in their young state they 

 inhabit the body of the caterpillar in which they have been de- 

 posited. At this period there existed very few Butterflies, there 

 could, therefore, be only few Ichneumon-flies ; hence we may ob- 

 tain a confirmation of our former supposition, . that the Butterflies 

 belong to a later period of creation. It is also worthy of remark, 

 that besides the Ichneumon-flies proper, there occur also in the fossil 

 state some species that have lived in the interior of the larvee of the 

 same. Thus, the species of the genus Hemiteles pierce, and lay their 

 eggs in, the larvae of the Ichneumon-flies, which inhabit the bodies 

 of caterpillars. This genus Hemiteles is represented at Radoboj by 

 one species ; this remarkable and complicated relation therefore 

 existed already in the tertiary period. The Bees, the Leaf-wasps 

 \Cynipid(E\^ and Wasps proper, like the Ichneumon-flies, are not 

 numerous ; and in comparison with the Ants, are quite in the back- 

 ground. Of the Wasps proper I know of only one wing from 

 Parschlug in Steiermark ; of Bees, one Humble-bee species, some 

 Flower-bees, and one very fine Wood-bee. 



Of the great Coleopterous order of Insects the vegetable-feeders 

 first appeared. The Weevils \Curcidionidce\ Goat-chafers {Ceram- 

 bycidce\ and the Stei'noxi [^BuprestidcB and Elateridce] predominated 

 in the Jurassic period. In the cretaceous period the Curculionidce, 

 Sternoxi, and Palpicornes are the most numerous. In the tertiaiy 

 period the Sternoxi hold the first rank, then come the Weevils, the 

 Lamellicornes, the. Leaf-chafers [J^Ielalonthidce], the Clavicornes, the 

 Palpicornes, and Ground-beetles [Carabidai]. We must notice that 

 of the Sternoxi there are in particular the Buprestes [Pracht-kafer], 

 the most important member of this group throughout the former geo- 

 logical periods of the earth. These Buprestidce we find first in the 

 Jurassic rocks, then in the chalk, and as a multitude of fine large 

 species in the tertiary strata. How differently conditioned is our 

 fauna in this respect! We have some few small and insignificant 

 species, whilst the tropics harbour a multitude of species remarkable 

 for size and beauty of colour. The fossil Buprestes without doubt 

 inhabited the woods, just as the existing species, and their larvae lived 

 in the interior of trees. The Goat-chafer \Ceramhyx\ appears to 

 have been the most abundant throughout the whole of the tertiary 

 times, whilst with us at present the Bosirichidce furnish the majority 

 of the wood-destroying Chafers. In the tropics, however, the Ceram- 

 hyces occur still more numerously in the forests than the Buprestes. 

 The Cerambyces, which, like the Buprestes, are wood-eaters, were 

 very rare in the tertiary period, as well as the Bostrichidce ; we can- 

 not, therefore, attribute the great abundance of the Buprestes to the 



