INSECTA. 



109 



The Class of Insects is represented in the Palgeozoic age. Of Arach- 

 nidans, the earliest is the fossil Scorpion from the Bohemian Coal-Meas- 

 ures. Spiders are found in the Solenhofen-slates and in the Tertiary 

 gypseous marls of Aix. The Carboniferous forests were not uncheered 

 by the hum of Insects; for in the Lower Coal Measures are discovered 

 fossils resembling the living Locust and Curculio. The Blattina venusta 

 from Arkansas is the only Carboniferous Insect found in America, 

 excepting perhaps the articulated fragments found by Dawson in the 

 trunk of a Sigillaria. The principal European sources of fossil Insects 

 are the slates of Solenhofen, the Tertiary deposits of Aix and 

 OEningen, and the masses of amber from the northern coast of Prus- 

 sia. About 100 Tertiary species of Ants are known ) and these 

 are either male or female : neuters are rare. Bees and Wasps are 

 comparatively few. 



No. 451. ^schna eximia, Hagen. 



This beautiful fossil " Dragon-Fly" was found in the Lithographic limestone 

 (Middle Oolite), at Solenhofeu, Bavaria. It is a neuropterous insect of the genus 

 JEsclma, which differs from the Libellula proper only in the equal division of the 

 lower lip. The eyes are large and close together, and the wings remain horizoa- 

 tal in the state of repose. In this specimen, the wings, both pairs of which are 

 finely preserved, spread six inches. The original is in the private Geological 

 Cabinet of Mr. Ward. Size, 7x5. Price, $1.25.' 



